The United States State Department's 2023 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report makes for gloomy reading, especially for 11 countries that are categorised as the worst countries in human trafficking.
Myanmar, a failed state in many ways, is on the list. We are glad Malaysia isn't one of them. But that's where the good news ends.
Malaysia is ranked as being on the Tier 2 Watchlist, a ranking that says the country is not doing enough.
What is disturbing about this year's TIP report is the link it says exists between our civil service and forced labour crimes. But the government says it has investigated and found no such groups.
Be that as it may, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail gave his assurance that there would be no compromises.
The US State Department, the author of the report, says it has made 15 recommendations to work on, one of which is to "increase efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking cases, as distinct from migrant smuggling, including those involving complicit officials and forced labour crimes".
The media, local and international, has long reported Malaysia as a haven for human trafficking because of its alleged "lax law enforcement".
Last year, Malaysia was ranked a Tier 3 country, the lowest of the tiers assigned to a country.
Malaysia may have done better this year than Tier 3-Myanmar, but it is nothing to write home about.
We mustn't forget that in 2014, Malaysia was downgraded to Tier 3 after being on the Tier 2 Watchlist for four years. We must not allow this to happen again.
There is another concern, though. The Home Ministry seems to focus on the economic impact of Malaysia's ranking in the human trafficking index.
It is true that it has economic consequences, but those should be secondary. Our primary focus should be on the humane treatment of humans. Perhaps we need the Prevention of Cruelty to Humans Act.
Yes, our exporters will be pummelled by such a ranking, but why engage in human trafficking in the first place? Lax enforcement means low political will.
In February, four Immigration officers were arrested in Bintulu, Sarawak, for being in cahoots with a syndicate there to bring blacklisted Indonesians into Malaysia for a hefty fee.
One media report put the fee at between RM5,000 and RM6,000. Six months ago, two Immigration officers were detained for colluding with a syndicate to bring in illegal migrants through klia2 for a fee of between RM1,000 and RM2,000. Ditto KLIA.
Not only syndicates and Malaysian businesses are profiting from human trafficking, but also public officials.
This was raised many times in TIP reports in the past. One of the reasons for the Tier 3 downgrade in 2014 was the involvement of several Immigration officers in human trafficking syndicates.
Such civil servants must not be allowed to taint the country thus. We are glad that Malaysia wasn't declared to be among the worst human trafficking countries.
Eleven others got the dishonour. But Tier 2 Watchlist is a precarious "probationary" perch. Our civil service must be cleansed of corrupt officers. And inhumane officers, too.