The government must form a credible Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to investigate the mass graves and subsequent cover-up of human trafficking activities in the notorious Wang Kelian camp in Perlis, according to a group of human rights lawyers.

Lawyers for Liberty executive director Eric Paulsen urged the government to seriously investigate these "killing fields at our very own backyard and tackle this modern day scourge of human trafficking".

"In order to do so, the government must demonstrate political will to act and hold accountable all those involved, regardless of rank, status or connection.

"Malaysia is certainly undeserving of the Tier 2 2017 ranking in the US State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report.

"Malaysia should be returned to Tier 3, the lowest ranking for governments that do not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking and are not making significant efforts to do so," Paulsen (photo) said in a statement today.

Paulsen was responding to a New Straits Times report today headlined “Was there a cover-up in Wang Kelian?” which referred to the discovery of mass graves of human trafficking victims in Wang Kelian, Perlis in 2015.

Its extensive report alleged of a subsequent cover-up by destroying evidence, redacting reports and other papers in the course of the investigation.

On May 1, 2015, Malaysian authorities were alerted to the human trafficking camps and mass graves by their Thai counterparts.

They checked the Malaysian side of the border, and discovered 139 graves on May 24, together with some two dozen similar-looking squalid camps, as reported by NST.

Paulsen recalled that in response to a parliamentary question in March, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (photo) said only four foreigners were charged for human trafficking offences, while 12 PDRM officers who were previously detained were not charged due to a lack of evidence.

In June, Zahid had said that the Malaysian government would be applying for an extradition order to seek the return of three main suspects in the human trafficking case, so they can be tried here as they were the "masterminds in the case and were not mere assistants" as claimed.

Why are such brazen trafficking ops possible?

Paulsen said the NST report confirms the long-held suspicion of local authorities’ collusion.

"Such poor investigative and prosecution records on the most shameful human trafficking scandal in Malaysia’s history must be compared to Thailand, where at least 62 persons, including local Thai officials and a three-star general, were charged and convicted of human trafficking and other offences," he said.

"Civil society has long believed that such extensive and brazen human trafficking operations for so many years under the noses of the Malaysian authorities would not have been possible without the direct or indirect cooperation and assistance of local authorities," he added.

The most damning of all, he added, was the subsequent whitewashed investigation and perfunctory prosecution of a few foreigners.

"In light of the exposé, serious questions must be asked as to why there was such an extensive cover-up and who the authorities were trying to protect?"

"The report further affirms what civil society has been saying all along, that the government is not genuine in tackling human trafficking and is merely paying lip service and doing the very minimum in order to achieve better human rights ranking," he said.

Paulsen also noted that despite credible reports of human trafficking, Malaysian authorities have long denied the existence of such activities, pointing to the government's dismissal of worker's rights group Tenaganita’s report “The Revolving Door: Modern Day Slavery” published in 2008, said Paulsen.

He also cited another report in April 2009, which was submitted to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee by senator Richard Lugar entitled “Trafficking and Extortion of Burmese Migrants in Malaysia and Southern Thailand.”

"The report detailed human trafficking and extortion in Malaysia and southern Thailand, including damning allegations of collusion between Malaysian authorities and human traffickers in southern Thailand," Paulsen noted.