Nearly a decade after the discovery of mass graves in Wang Kelian shocked the nation, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) warns that systemic weaknesses continue to undermine the country’s anti-trafficking efforts.
SUHAKAM vice-chairman Tengku Mohamed Fauzi Tengku Abdul Hamid Malaysia’s unresolved institutional failures caused human suffering and called for action.
“The souls buried in Wang Kelian cry not just for remembrance, but for accountability,” he said on May 31, during a keynote address at the launch of Mass Graves, a book authored by veteran journalist Arulldas Sinnappan documenting the Wang Kelian tragedy in 2015.
While an official Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) was conducted in 2019 and found evidence of severe negligence in border monitoring, no Malaysian officials were found to be complicit in trafficking operations. The report was kept confidential under the Official Secrets Act until parts of it were made public in 2022, only to be removed shortly after.
The RCI confirmed that Malaysian authorities discovered the trafficking camps in January 2015, but exhumation and public disclosure were delayed until May.
In that time, a senior police officer allegedly ordered the site destroyed, potentially obstructing justice. Yet the RCI concluded there was “no proof” implicating enforcement agents or civil servants in the syndicates, a finding rights groups continue to question.
Tengku Fauzi did not directly challenge the RCI’s conclusions but stressed that impunity and inaction remain key concerns.
He pointed out that the joint Suhakam-Fortify Rights report titled “Sold Like Fish”, categorises the crimes committed between 2012 and 2015 as “a widespread and systematic attack on civilian populations” and possibly crimes against humanity under international law.
“Survivors were forced to pay up to RM7,000 for their release or face torture or death. Eyewitnesses reported complicity by officials in transporting Rohingya captives from state custody directly into the hands of traffickers,” he said.
Beyond Wang Kelian, Suhakam continues to document fresh complaints. Between 2020 and 2024, it received 22 trafficking-related reports.
Victims including women have been deceived into working in entertainment venues and children forced into labour on plantations, according to Tengku Fauzi.
He added that while there have been improvements, such as the development of shelter Standard Operating Procedures, educational programmes for children, and better grassroots enforcement in Sabah and Sarawak, these gains are undermined by structural weaknesses.
He pointed to language barriers in detention centres, a lack of medical personnel in shelters, and insufficient staffing in the Labour Department as persistent obstacles.
Suhakam recommends that all shelters be equipped with medical officers to conduct health screenings and deliver basic treatment.
“We also call for increased staffing within the Labour Department to enhance enforcement, especially in rural sectors like plantations and factories,” said Tengku Fauzi.
He said both routine and complaint-driven inspections of detention centres, shelters, plantations, and factories can be conducted by the commission under Section 4(2)(d) of the Suhakam Act.
These visits include interviews with detainees and assessments of health services, facilities, and agency coordination, and were important in ensuring the protection of the rights of victims and the identification of gaps in facilities and services, according to Tengku Fauzi.
He also called for detention centres to adhere to the United Nations’ Mandela Rules, in which minimum standards for the treatment of prisoners are outlined.
“Let us ensure that Malaysia does not become a silent witness to impunity. Let us be a nation that confronts its past with honesty, and that forges a future where human dignity is upheld for all.”
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