Crime in Malaysia

Malaysia is a destination, supply and transit point for women and children trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation.[8] Women and girls from Burma, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam are trafficked to Malaysia.[8] Malaysia is a transit country along with Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand in Chinese human trafficking.[9] Women from Malaysia are trafficked into the People's Republic of China.[9] Migrants from countries in the region work as domestic servants and laborers in the construction and agricultural sectors and face exploitative conditions.[8]

Between 2005 and September 2009, more than 36,858 women were arrested for prostitution in Malaysia.[10]

Drug trafficking is a problem, heroin being the primarily used drug.[8] The maximum penalty for drug trafficking is up to death,[11] a measure which was introduced during the 1980s to combat drug offenses, and was highlighted following the 1986 execution of Kevin John Barlow and Brian Geoffrey Chambers.

Violent crime against foreign tourists is less frequent in Malaysia;[12] however, pickpocketing and burglaries are common criminal activities directed against foreigners.[12] Other types of non-violent crime include credit card fraud and motor vehicle theft;[12] there is a high rate of credit card fraud.[12][13] Scams are a problem in Kuala Lumpur which involve card games and purchase of gold jewellery.[11]

Corruption in Malaysia has been considered to be a serious problem.[14] In the 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International[15] Malaysia had a corruption score of 52 out of 100 (high scores are less corrupt); this makes Malaysia the 2nd least corrupt country in SE Asia after Singapore, though by a large gap, as Singapore scored 87 out of 100 that year. Malaysia had scored 50th of the 175 countries assessed worldwide.

In the 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International, Malaysia dropped to 57th worldwide but stayed 2nd in SE Asia, with Singapore (1st in SE Asia, Asia in general, and 3rd worldwide), Thailand (3rd in SE Asia, 76th worldwide), Indonesia (4th in SE Asia, 88th worldwide), Philippines (5th in SE Asia, 95th worldwide), and Vietnam (6th in SE Asia, 112th worldwide)[16]

Transparency International list Malaysia's key corruption challenges as:

1. Political and Campaign Financing: Donations from both corporations and individuals to political parties and candidates are not limited in Malaysia. Political parties are also not legally required to report on what funds are spent during election campaigns. Due in part to this political landscape, Malaysia's ruling party for over 55 years has funds highly disproportionate to other parties. This unfairly impacts campaigns in federal and state elections and can disrupt the overall functioning of a democratic political system.
2. “Revolving door”: Individuals regularly switch back and forth between working for both the private and public sectors in Malaysia. Such circumstances – known as the ‘revolving door’ – allow for active government participation in the economy and public-private relations to become elusive. The risk of corruption is high and regulating public-private interactions becomes difficult, also allowing for corruption to take place with impunity. Another factor which highlights the extent of ambiguity between the public sector and private corporate ownership is that Malaysia is also a rare example of a country where political parties are not restricted in possessing corporate enterprises.
3. Access to information: As of April 2013, no federal Freedom of Information Act exists in Malaysia. Although, Selangor and Penang are the only Malaysian states out of thirteen to pass freedom of information legislation, the legislation still suffers from limitations. Should a federal freedom of information act be drafted it would conflict with the Official Secrets Act – in which any document can be officially classified as secret, making it exempt from public access and free from judicial review. Additional laws such as the Printing Presses and Publications Act, the Sedition Act 1949 (subsequently replaced with the National Harmony Act), and the Internal Security Act 1969 also ban the dissemination of official information and offenders can face fines or imprisonment.[14] Malaysia suffers from corporate fraud in the form of intellectual property theft.[17] Counterfeit production of several goods including IT products, automobile parts, etc., are prevalent.[17]

• Law enforcement in Malaysia

• Malaysia Black Markets Havocscope Black Market