“Why was there a gap in intelligence sharing? Every enforcement authority has its own intelligence.
“If someone knew there was movement at the border, why was it not shared?” Suhakam commissioner Jerald Joseph asked during a panel discussion.
The discussion was held during the launch of an independent investigation report on the Wang Kelian human trafficking camps and mass graves, titled “Sold Like Fish”, jointly compiled by Suhakam and human rights organisation Fortify Rights.
The other panellists were Angkana Neelapaijit, head of the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand; Sharifah Shakirah, head of women empowerment at Rohingya Women Malaysia; Matthew Smith, CEO of Fortify Rights; and Roger Polack, legal counsel with Fortify Rights.
Joseph said it was worrying that traffickers were going “in and out of the border” without raising suspicion.
He said investigations for the report also found that 750 undocumented “migrant workers” had been arrested at the police station closest to the campsite in 2013 and 2014.
He questioned if the authorities had mistaken some of the human trafficking victims for undocumented “migrant workers”.
“Enforcement agencies need to use a finer comb to be able to differentiate victims from undocumented foreign workers,” he said.
No action despite presence of foreigners with burn marks
Joseph said the investigators also had a chance to interview two community leaders who said that they saw “foreigners” looking scared and skinny and some with burn marks.
“They informed the authorities. So, what happened after that?”
He said that when the camps were discovered, the 38 detainees rescued were arrested under the Immigration Act instead of being put under the protection of the Anti-Trafficking Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act (Atipsom), which stated that victims needed to be placed in a shelter home.
Joseph also said Suhakam was looking forward to the work of the newly-established Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Wang Kelian campsite and mass graves.
Suhakam chairman Razali Ismail is a member of the RCI.
Joseph expressed hope that the RCI would be able to uncover the money trail of the trafficking syndicates, said to have amounted to as much as US$100 million (RM408 million).
He said there was no way a human trafficking camp could have been set up on Malaysian soil without collusion from several parties, including, possibly enforcement authorities.
He said the four Bangladeshis charged in connection with trafficking of Rohingya refugees at the Malaysia-Thai border were just “low-level” operatives.
In contrast, a historic year-long trial of a trafficking syndicate in Thailand had resulted in the convictions of 62 traffickers, nine of whom were government officials.
Smith agreed, saying: “It is exceedingly difficult for us to believe that only nine government officials in Thailand were held responsible for this massive, modern-day slave trade.”