Two months ago, Malaysia was blacklisted by the United States for the first time for its failure to take concrete action against human trafficking.

Malaysia joined other offenders - among them, Burma, North Korea and Sudan - in the US State Department's annual 'Trafficking in Persons Report'.

In all, 16 countries were given the so-called 'Tier 3' status in the 236-page survey of global efforts to combat human trafficking, which makes these errant nations eligible for US economic sanctions.