Job scams committee part of Cabinet discussion agenda

KUALA LUMPUR – The Cabinet will review forming a special committee to help resolve the issues of job scams for Malaysians.

According to the Prime Minister’s Department (Special Functions), Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad, the committee will be at ASEAN level with the aim to help Malaysians who are victims of the various job scams that happened outside of the country.

After meeting with some of the job scam victims’ family members as well as representatives of NGOs, he told reporters that the issue requires participation from all parties and will be brought up at the cabinet meeting on Sept 21.

Among the NGO representatives were Datuk Hishamuddin Hashim, secretary of the Malaysian International Humanitarian Organisation (MHO), and Tan Sri Musa Hassan, president of the Malaysian Community Crime Care (MCCC).

Prior to this meeting, a collective group of NGOs had addressed the Prime Minister through a memorandum that requested for government support and intervention to help resolve the issue of job scams where Malaysians are becoming victims abroad.

Based on data by Wisma Putra, as at Sept 20, there were 158 reported cases and out of which, 43 of the Malaysian victims were rescued from Cambodia.

When reporters asked about whether the government will limit the movement of Malaysians in order to avoid more individuals from becoming prey to the job scam syndicates, the minister responded that the government had no right to impose such limits.

Without the authority to limit travel, he advises Malaysians who are travelling abroad to inform their families and friends about their intentions.

Apart from that, he also suggests verifying the names of the agencies with the embassies of the destination country as an extra security measure prior to travelling.

At the same time, Musa, a former Inspector-General of Police, stated that he had contacted the D3 Anti-Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Division (Atipsom) to gather more information about the network and hoped that the division could also assist in the investigation and rescue the victims

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