KUCHING, Sept 11 — A mother here is facing her worst nightmare after losing contact with her two children recently.
Identified only as Madam Chong, the woman suspects her 31-year-old son and 41-year-old daughter have been trafficked after initially travelling to Thailand.
“Madam Chong’s son had travelled with two friends to Thailand to work there but had somehow been transited to Myanmar to work for some organisation,” Stampin MP Chong Chieng Jen told a press conference today.
“Thereafter, her daughter flew to Thailand in the hopes of finding her brother, but Madam Chong also lost contact with her soon after.”
The worried mother then sought help from Chong.
Democratic Action Party Socialist Youth (Dapsy) Sarawak secretary George Lam has since helped the family to lodge a police report as well as contact the Embassy of Malaysia in Bangkok.
“They have made a police report giving the particulars of the two friends, who are both Sarawakians and staying in Kuching.
“With their particulars and addresses furnished to the police, we hope that this provides the trace and information needed to track down both son and daughter and to help get them back to Kuching safely,” Chong said while urging the police to step up their investigation.
The DAP Sarawak chairman called on the government to be more proactive as well as take stern and urgent action when handling such cases.
“It is not just about the safety of our youth, or in Madam Chong’s case her son and daughter, but there is also a wider implication in terms of the macroeconomics of the country.
“Malaysia is quite notorious in terms of human trafficking activities where two or three years back the country was ranked at Tier 3 in the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report issued by the United States (US) Department of State. This is the worst category classified by the US in terms of human trafficking and under this ranking, certain products of a country cannot be exported in the US or even the European market.
“Last year, Malaysia was ranked at Tier 2 Watch List and while this is an improvement, that ranking meant that we were still under the constant scrutiny of international bodies in terms of human trafficking activities,” he said.
Chong also advised youths seeking greener pastures in other countries to always be alert and careful before accepting job offers abroad.
“Try not to be too adventurous. I think for Madam Chong’s son, he was not promised a very high-paying job and just a reasonably high-paid job,” he said.
“Now he is stranded at a place where he has to carry out scamming activities in order not to be beaten up.”
Chong said DAP Sarawak will continue to follow up the case not only with the police but also the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Malaysian embassy in Bangkok and Yangon. — The Borneo Post
