“We believe Malaysia needs to do more… to protect victims and crack down on traffickers,” US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink was quoted by Reuters as saying during his visit to Singapore today.

In June, the US State Department downgraded Malaysia to Tier 3 in its human trafficking watch list from the previous Tier 2 position.

It said Malaysia was downgraded because it did not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and was not making significant efforts to do so.

The State Department report also said large organised crime syndicates were responsible for some instances of trafficking, adding that employers use practices indicative of forced labour, such as restrictions on movement, violating contracts, wage fraud, assault, threats of deportation, imposition of significant debts, and passport retention.

The following month, the home ministry launched a chatbot to boost communication and help victims of human trafficking to get in touch more speedily with the council of anti-trafficking in persons and anti-smuggling of migrants.

The minister, Hamzah Zainudin, also revealed that since 2015, a total of 1,854 human trafficking cases involving 10,463 victims had been recorded in the country, with 70% of the victims being women and children.