US government claims that children are used in forced labour is a smear campaign against Malaysia’s economy, say several Muslim NGOs.

 

In handing over a memorandum to the US Embassy on the matter this morning, Dewan Ekonomi dan Social Muslim Malaysia president Mohd Fazil Abdullah said that the claim has a hidden agenda.

 

“What they are trying to say is that our economy is not good. By saying that we have child labourers, people will not buy our products.

 

“Basically I feel this is an attack, especially on our palm oil industry. Our palm oil is doing well. They had to come up with something, so they came up with this – child labour.

“There’s a hidden agenda behind this, I believe,” he said outside the US Embassy today.

Recently, the US Department of Labour (DOL) released a report in which Malaysia was listed as using child labour in the electronics and oil palm industries, while the local garment industry was listed as using forced labour.

The report by DOL’s Bureau of International Labour Affairs (ILAB) maintains “a list of goods and their source countries which it has reason to believe are produced by child labour or forced labour in violation of international standards”.

The Malaysian government, however, in a statement on Dec 3 said it does not condone any act of child or forced labour in the country.

It has executed a task force to investigate allegations found in the report by the US Department of Labour.

 

“We will take serious measures to ensure any such practices, if found, are curtailed,” it said in a joint-statement issued by three ministries.

 

Mohd Fazil said the memorandum, which was received by one Mr Green, a senior security officer at the embassy, aims to highlight that Malaysians are “good people” who don’t condone nor employ child labourers.

Supporting that statement, Ikatan Rakyat Insan Muslim Malaysia (IKIMM) president Amir Amsaa Alla Pitchay stressed that what the study found was most probably “foreign labourers” whose children are not schooling, hanging around the work area.

He added that the findings in the report had “defamed and tarnished the country’s image”.

Pertubuhan Martabat Jalinan Muhibbah Malaysia (MJMM) president Rani Kulup Abdullah said that the US government cannot simply come out with just any statements without first providing concrete proof.

“Malaysia also has its own set of rules and laws. Don’t just recklessly accuse us of something without proof. This is wrong!” he said.

Earlier this year, Malaysia was demoted to Tier 3 in the US State Department’s annual human trafficking report as it was a destination for forced labourers and sex workers who are among the two million undocumented foreign workers here.

The NGOs said that the accusations laid upon Malaysia is serious, thus they want the government to take action and write to the US government and the organisation responsible to demoting the country to Tier 3.

ILAB defines child labour as work done by a person below 15 which includes slavery, prostitution, illicit purposes, and which harms “the health, safety and morals of children”.

Forced labour was defined as “work provided or obtained by force, fraud or coercion” which includes threats, physical abuse, schemes and abuse of law.

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