Media statement by Dr. Hiew King Cheu in Kota Kinabalu on Friday, 16^th July 2010:

An Act to amend the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act 2007

The Act may be cited as the Anti-Trafficking in Persons (Amandment) Act 2010.

In Parliament, the above mentioned Act has been tabled by the Minister of Internal Affair for debate and endorsement by the members of Parliament on the 15th July, 2010.

The original Act, The Anti-trafficking in Persons Act 2007 (Act 670) which is referred to as the "Principal Act" in this Act, and the new title of the amended Act will be "An Act to prevent and combat trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants and to provide for matters connected therewith". Most of the sections in the Act have been inserted with the wording "Anti-Smuggling of Migrants".

The Act gave a definition on "Smuggling of Migrants" which is defined as:-

(a) arranging, facilitating or organizing, directly or indirectly, a person's unlawful entry or through, or unlawful exit from, any country of which the person is not a citizen or permanent resident either knowing or having reason to believe that the person's entry or exit is unlawful;

(b) recruiting, conveying, transferring, concealing, harbouring or providing any other assistance or service for the purpose of carrying out the acts as in (a).

New Section 7:- "Function and power of the Council" has been inserted with the power to:-

(a) coordinating the implementation of the Act,

(b) formulating policies and program to prevent and combat trafficking and smuggling of migrants,

(c) formulating protective programs for trafficked persons,

(d) initiating education programs to increase public awareness of the causes and consequences of the act of trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants,

(e) monitoring the immigration and emigration patterns in Malaysia including the international level,

(f) advising the government on issues of trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrant,

(g) to make recommendations to the Minister on aspects of prevention and combating,

(h) Coordinating the formulation and monitoring the implementation of such policies,

(i) Cooperating and coordinating with governments and international organizations,

(j) Collecting datas and information, and authorizing research,

(k) Performing any other function for the purpose.

There are various penalties and punishment under the Act on the offence of smuggling of migrants:-

1. Smuggling of Migrants- jail term 15 years and fine or both;

2. Smuggled Migrants in transit- jail term 7 years and fine or both;

3. Profiting from the offence of smuggling of migrants- jail term 7 years not exceeding 15 years, fine RM500,000 but not exceeding RM 1 million or both, and forfeiture of the profits from the profits of the offence.

There are many other punishments as stated in the Act.

I viewed the Act amendment as positive and will help the illegal immigrants flooding into Sabah. This problem of uncontrolled movement of the illegal immigrants in and out of Sabah is a long standing problem and is the direct cause of the huge fluctuation of the population in the state. In the actual fact, many of this PTI people have obtained Mycard through various means as reported, and books had been written and published to alert the government. There are plenty of "agents" out there to arrange them to come in and out of Sabah freely.

It is a small steps and a belated move to cope the situation on the illegal immigration in Sabah. The effectiveness of the Act will still have to be proven and tested. The Council set up under the power of the Act should with its members comprising a wide cross section of the various government departments and agencies, NGO,s, opposition leaders, professional bodies, and Chambers of Commerce etc.

* Dr Hiew King Cheu, MP for Kota Kinabalu