TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN AND CHILDREN:

CHALLENGES TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY OF MALAYSIA

SK/30/2003

DR. ZARINA @ ZAIRINA BINTI OTHMAN

ABSTRACT

Trafficking of women and children is one of the fastest growing transnational criminal
activities in the world today. The region of Southeast Asia is both a major sending and a
major destination for trafficking victims. Malaysia, one of the more developed and
peaceful states in the region, is among the favorite destinations for the illegally trafficked
human “commodities,” and yet this fact is little known to the public. Although, human
trafficking does not pose an immediate security threat in the way that a traditional
military threat would, it nevertheless is having disastrous consequences for human and
national security. This study is designed to analyze how trafficking in women and
children poses threats to human and national security of Malaysia. The objectives are to
reveal the magnitude of the problem in Malaysia; to determine the origins and
destinations of the victims who are being trafficked; to identify the land, sea, and air
trafficking routes being used by crime syndicates. The primary sources used for the
study were interviews-- of trafficking victims, of members of the police force, and of
other related authorities. Findings show that the majority of the victims are from
Indonesia, where Medan is one of the “exporting” points, and that the trafficking is
closely associated with small but well connected syndicate. The crime syndicates profit
in part from the conditions of poverty and ignorance in which the victims live, and also
depend on the work of unscrupulous kidnappers and con artists. Based on that finding, it
is suggested that the problem should be viewed from human security perspectives. Such a
perspective would indicate a need to focus on strengthening the economic and social
conditions in the country as a whole, and to broadly define national security by including
special attention to protecting the basic rights, safety, and needs of all the individual
human beings who make up the civil society.