North-South Initiative executive director Adrian Pereira said based on the NGO’s own case files, he had expected Malaysia to either retain its status or be downgraded.

Malaysia was last in Tier 2 of the TIP report in 2017 – the highest position it has achieved to date.

Pereira said migrant rights activists still needed to be convinced by the recent upgrade, especially in terms of masterminds being hauled to court.

“Where are these traffickers? Have they been prosecuted? We don’t know because we don’t see it (these groups being charged with trafficking),” he told FMT.

He added that the issue would be prolonged if action was not taken against traffickers.

He said it was possible that the upgrade was due to the US and Malaysia wanting to reassure investors, especially in the semiconductor sector, that labourers were protected from danger.

“But this would be misleading and dangerous as human trafficking and the abuse of migrant rights is still rampant,” he said.

He nevertheless added that human resources minister Steven Sim, despite being “a few months into the job”, appeared to have ushered in changes which were not reflected in the latest TIP report.

Meanwhile, Malaysian International Humanitarian Organisation secretary-general Hishamuddin Hashim said that despite the upgrade, Putrajaya would still need to resolve incidents of foreign workers being duped into coming to Malaysia for non-existent jobs.

He said Malaysia’s Tier 2 ranking was not guaranteed given the existence of “cartels” which he said facilitate human trafficking.

“If these cartels are not dealt with, human trafficking as well as issues related to labour exploitation and human rights will continue and affect our image,” he said.