Papers by Dr Rohani Abdul Rahim
The issue on trafficking in persons and smuggling of illegal migrants in Malaysia is increasingly... more The issue on trafficking in persons and smuggling of illegal migrants in Malaysia is increasingly crossborder crime that poses a worrying situation. Trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants terms often confused the public generally. The differences in its terms and understanding on these issues must be determined and important in providing relevant in treatment and legal protection in Malaysia. In addition, forced labor rights as workers are often overlooked by the authorities because of their status as illegal immigrants (PATI). This complicate matter further when national legislation in particular the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants (ATIPSOM) Act 2007 [Act 670] also does not state clearly the interpretation of the Act. According to court cases decided in Malaysia, it is found that the courts interpret a situation as 'trafficking in persons' based on its purpose and forms of exploitation outlined in the Act
Malaysia is among the countries that use the services of many migrant workers in various work sec... more Malaysia is among the countries that use the services of many migrant workers in various work sectors. The rapid growth of the country that strived to be a developed country opens up many opportunities for migrant workers to come to work in Malaysia. The nature of the work performed by migrant workers usually involve high accidents risk work, in sectors such as construction, forestry, manufacturing and plantation. Their work involve heavy machinery, huge difficult to control instruments that may lead to accident risk. The cause of the accident may not only involve employees’ negligence but can also involve negligence on the part of employers. Unfortunately, when an accident occurred workers may be injured and died because of unexpected negligence and unsafe work systems. Therefore, when injuries or death occurred there are people who have to face legal action, incur criminal liability and are fined accordingly to the damage caused. This paper aims to discuss the employers’ rights an...
Nurani: Jurnal Kajian Syari'ah dan Masyarakat
Minister of Transportation Regulation Number 25 of 2020 on Transportation Control during the Idul... more Minister of Transportation Regulation Number 25 of 2020 on Transportation Control during the Idul Fitri Homecoming Year 1441 Hijri in the context of Preventing the Spread of COVID-19. This Regulation of the Minister of Transportation Number 25 of 2020 regulates the transportation system during the Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) implementation, especially related to the 2020 Idul Fitri Homecoming. The formulation of the problem in this study: first, how could the elements of actions be categorized as violations of criminal law norms? second, could the violation of the prohibition of homecoming be categorized as a violation in the criminal law?. The purpose of this study is to find out that violations of the homecoming ban have met the elements that can be categorized as violations of criminal law norms. The research method used normative legal research for this research and used the Theory of Legal Effectiveness for the theory. This study concludes that: First, an act that ca...
Pertanika journal of social science and humanities, 2014
Trafficking in persons is a major concern for global nations. The technology, growth, and usage o... more Trafficking in persons is a major concern for global nations. The technology, growth, and usage of information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been accompanied by an increase in exploitation and abuse of technology for criminal activities. With regards to cyberspace, the Internet is increasingly used as a tool and medium by transnational organized crime. Trafficking in women is an obvious form of organized crime that has been affected by the globalised revolution in ICT. This illegal trafficking is not exclusive to sexual exploitation with respect to women or child trafficking, but also covers indentured servitude and child labour. This new form of crime violates fundamental and basic human rights and freedom, and transcends national boundaries and territories to negatively impact on numerous countries across the world. It is estimated that over 900,000 people are being trafficked every year 1 . This paper seeks to discuss, address and analyze the impact of Information Co...
International Journal of Asian Social Science, 2018
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) was a very extensive and speculative trade agreeme... more The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) was a very extensive and speculative trade agreement until the withdrawal of the United States. The world economic and trade bloc was of the view that the TPPA would be the greatest ever trade agreement in the 21 st century that would have brought major changes to the trading, economic, and investment sectors. TPPA issues relate to trade and also for example to labour standards, the environment, government procurement, and intellectual property rights. It has major implications to existing standards and legal framework in Malaysia, particularly on labour. Several issues have arisen following the US withdrawal from the TPPA mostly on US-Malaysia Labour Consistency Plan which requires amendments to Malaysian labour laws. The discussion in this paper focuses on the impact of the TPPA-11 (TPPA, original member states minus the United States) on the "Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership" (CPTPP) on existing Malaysian labour laws. Does Malaysia need to amend the current set of labour laws with the application of TPP-11 and CPTPP or should Malaysia maintain the existing labour framework? Contribution/ Originality: This paper contributes to the understanding of difficulty in implementing multi trade agreement among countries with different and distinct legal systems and economic standing. 1. INTRODUCTION Following decades of negotiations, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) as an international trade agreement among its member states was concluded on 5 th October 2015. The agreement seeks to achieve two main objectives: (i) the establishment of market-oriented international trade in various fields that could growth rapidly at the international level, and (ii) the reduction of trade and investment barriers amongst TPP member states (Capaldo et al., 2016). According to estimates, the combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of TPP member states in 2014 amounted to $28 trillion or 36% of global GDP of which the export sector constituted $5.3 trillion or 23% of total global exports (Petri and Plummer, 2016). The TPP is viewed as an unique setup because of its flexibility and versatility and comprises nations of all levels of incomes and diverse systems of economic integration. The exclusivity of the TPP Agreement (TPPA) can be seen in the aspiration to achieve economic integration through
The recent 11th Malaysian Plan (2016-2020), showed that the Government will continue to map out i... more The recent 11th Malaysian Plan (2016-2020), showed that the Government will continue to map out its approach to upgrade physical infrastructure in the next five years. It will become the multiplier effect that continue to be the catalyst to the other sectors to attract domestic and foreign investments to support the country’s economic growth. Construction growth (GDP) to remain robust with the Government’s GDP forecast of 10.7% for the sector in 2015. This scenario claim relevancy to place great concern on the occupational health and safety in construction work. This need be reflected in the many preventive measures taken to minimize the hazard and the risks that the workers are exposed. Literature claims that accidents occur due to three main causes that are (a) failure to continuously in stages, to identify unsafe work conditions and environment, (b) unscrupulous decision to continue work knowingly even when unsafe conditions identified by workers, and (c) to act unsafely and jeop...
Migrant workers are regarded as backbone to the development of Malaysia. As such, the importation... more Migrant workers are regarded as backbone to the development of Malaysia. As such, the importation of migrant workers in Malaysia is a necessity when the country is facing an acute shortage of labour force in various work sectors such as plantation, manufacturing, construction, agriculture, domestic workers and services. The 11th Malaysian Plan (2016-2020) aim is to reduce dependency and reliance on lowskilled migrant workers especially in labor-intensive activities and to ensure migrant basic support such as basic rights are provided as determine by the existing governing laws. Basic support such as food, clothing, shelter and education are regarded as basic natural human necessities to sustain life. These necessities have been recognized as basic rights for every individual and as a form of human rights that is right to life. Migrant workers upon migrating from their country of origin uphold their civil rights that need to be respected by the receiving countries. Rights to basic su...
Urbanization has caused the people to be victimized, marginalize, discriminated, their right deni... more Urbanization has caused the people to be victimized, marginalize, discriminated, their right denied and finally displaced. Development-caused displacement (DIDR) is a highly diverse global social problem that occurred worldwide and addressed in humanitarian base approach or right based approach. This dilutes the real issue that citizen are victimize and marginalize in the course of realizing the development induced onto the people. Vulnerabilities emerge through rapid urbanization that resulted in conflict when urban violence, psychosocial health and gender‐based violence become more obvious. For purpose of human security, people should be allows for a comprehensive examination of the requirements for minimum levels of survival health, personal safety, livelihoods and shelter) as well. Dispossession and (public displace-ment have radically changed the landscape of human vulnerability and security. Accumulation by dispossession and displacement in various forms that associated with p...
In legal terms, sexual harassment is any unwelcome sexual advance or conduct that intimidate, hos... more In legal terms, sexual harassment is any unwelcome sexual advance or conduct that intimidate, hostile, or offensive to the work environment. In fact, sexual harassment ranges from repeated offensive or belittling jokes to a workplace full of offensive pornography (creating a hostile work environment) to sexual assault. Most often sexual harassment takes the form of men harassing women, but it can also be conducted onto men and between sexes. Superiors or coworkers who discriminate employee on basis of sex can be a form of sexual harassment when the act is not welcome by the employee. Sex discrimination is prohibited in every aspect of the employment relationship, from hiring, interviewing, and starting salaries to promotions, benefits, job responsibilities, firings, and layoffs. In Malaysia, sexual harassment can be seen as civil and criminal offences depending on what are the victim claims. As an employee the employment Act 1955 (amendment 2012) provide some improvements to Sexual ...
Sexual Bribery is most commonly known as quid pro quo sexual harassment that is when a co-worker ... more Sexual Bribery is most commonly known as quid pro quo sexual harassment that is when a co-worker or supervisor offers an incentive for engaging in sexual relations with them or another employee. The common incentives in exchange for sexual favours includes promotion, wage raise, positive performance review or good recommendation, and special treatment in the workplace. This paper presentation dwells on the theoretical foundation of sexual bribery at workplace. The investigation will examine how conformity to gender norms on masculinity create risk of sexual harassment to women workers particularly. However both sexes are exposed to be sexually harassed via this form of sexual harassment. Power and power relations have substantial influence in organizational theories, place female workers in awkward positions to resist sexual advance. This is because economically they are dependent on their male supervisor as the supervisor coerces the employee's to submit to his/her sexual deman...
Malaysia being a semi-developed country is attracting people from all corners of the world and th... more Malaysia being a semi-developed country is attracting people from all corners of the world and this has caused people to migrate for work and other purposes. This also opened the doors to human trafficking and human smuggling activities that had blemished the country's reputation when ranked successively tier 3 and 2 in TIP (Trafficking In Persons) Report. Being aware of the problem, the country enacted the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrant Act 2007 (amend.2012) but the enforcement has yet to be effective enough to stop completely sexual exploitation syndicates via trafficking in persons. Particularly, women and young girls were lured into becoming sex workers and domestic labour market. There are numerous theoretical foundations that explain why women are being trafficked and victimized as sex workers globally. Feminist economics, have proposed that supply of sex work is rooted in absence of economic alternatives, and that prohibitionist policies, both o...
The 11 Malaysia Plan exhibit the GDP increase in almost all main sector including construction th... more The 11 Malaysia Plan exhibit the GDP increase in almost all main sector including construction that increased from 3.4% (2010) to 4.5% (2015). Robust activities in the infrastructure and residential subsectors are expected to spur a double-digit growth of 11.1% in the construction sector. Job created by construction sectors between 2011-1015 is 78,000 (4.3%) of other jobs creation by sectors. While the labour productivity for this sector is expected to maintain at estimated 9.6% (per anum) (2011-2015) to 9.6% (per anum) (2016-2020). Safety experts estimate that 80-90% of all industrial accidents are attributable to ‘human factors’ on that point, construction workers need to learn about safety to avoid any accidents that may occur while working. Training and provision of information on Safety culture, laws and leadership behaviour will help promote commitment to safety and encourage their subordinates to value safety as a fundamental goal. In Malaysia, issue of safety performance in ...
Each year estimated six million currently residing in other ASEAN member states. The majority of ... more Each year estimated six million currently residing in other ASEAN member states. The majority of migrants are low-skilled, and many are irregular. Cambodia, Lao Democratic People’s Republic,Myanmar, Indonesia, Viet Nam and the Philippines are identified as the sending countries while Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam are the receiving countries. As mentioned by the ILO (International Labor Organization), migration should be a choice rather than a necessity. While migration may provide a route out of poverty, it is important to balance the promotion of migration with appropriate protection measures. The 2007 Declaration on the rights of migrant workers acknowledges the obligation for receiving states to “facilitate access to justice and social welfare states as appropriate and in accordance with the national legislation of the receiving state” and to “promote fair and appropriate employment protection, payment of wages, and adequate access to decent working and livi...
Sabah is one of the states in Malaysia, which have gazetted forests reserves with a total area of... more Sabah is one of the states in Malaysia, which have gazetted forests reserves with a total area of 3.6 million hectares. The forestry sector through its timber revenue has acquired the annual tax collection amounted to millions of ringgit. This economic sector is one of the main contributors to Sabah state revenue. Sabah forest is rich in forest products as well as the flora and fauna are constantly maintained and monitored by the Forestry Department of Sabah from any trespassing activity. However, there are still attempts by foreign migrants to intrude the forest illegally to acquire forest products, especially in the forest reserves and violate the existing legislation. This paper aims to discuss the causes of the invasion of forest reserves by foreign migrants, the offenses committed by foreign migrant activities in the forest reserves, violation of specific legislation such as the Immigration Act 1959/63 and the Forest Enactment 1968. Finally, to propose adequate measures to crea...
Labour migration is a phenomenon that has been accepted by the local community and international ... more Labour migration is a phenomenon that has been accepted by the local community and international levels. Movement of labour force from region to region and from country to country. International migration occurs when there is a movement by foreign workers that go across the borders of each country to another country. Many factors contribute to the phenomenon of migration between countries. The main attraction is a push factor. Economic situation of the country of origin and the lack of employment opportunities that has encouraged foreign workers to move out to other countries to get greater job opportunities. The rapid development of the country has led to the total labour force in great numbers. Indonesians, Bangladeshis, Philippines and workers from Southeast Asia and other southern countries migrate to Malaysia and worked in various economic sectors such as construction, manufacturing, agriculture, services and domestic. Positive results were of course the influx of foreign labou...
Field of academia has faced allegations made by students, workers and educators with problem of s... more Field of academia has faced allegations made by students, workers and educators with problem of sexual harassment. Most of the time the higher education institution have either ignored the problem or coping with it quietly (privately) or by quieting student victims of such harassment. Definition and attitudes towards sexual harassment is among the problem. Most of the definitions include the act of power over the victims, the unwanted behavior according to the victims, negative harms such as distress or interference with activities and many other different types of specific behavior. Some of the theoretical foundations related to sexual harassment include power relations, gender, environmental, organizational and individual influences. Conflict and role theory also closely related to understanding sexual harassment behavior. The types of sexual harassment commonly identified are; (a) sexist remarks or behavior: (b) inappropriate and offensive, but sanction-free sexual advances: (c) ...
The terms Khuntha is not new in this era. It describe a human being who was born with natural dif... more The terms Khuntha is not new in this era. It describe a human being who was born with natural differences in their sex anatomy and who’s biological cannot be classified either as a male or female. A Khuntha may have biologically attribution of both sexes or in some cases was lack in the biological attribution that makes it difficult to determine whether they are male or female. A Khuntha differs from a Transvestite or Transgender. Transvestite or Transgender are persons whom had deliberately alter their own anatomical character to the opposite. Currently a Khuntha faced challenges either in the society and/or in law. They are marginalized into an edge that had cause distress to their mentality as their privacy and right had been jeopardized. Many human right instruments only protect the right of male and female but failed to identify the right of a Khuntha. But even if their rights are explicitly stated in the law, it’s still difficult for a Khuntha to enforce those rights. A khunth...
Paradoxically, while the demand for foreign workers in Malaysia is increasing due to mega develop... more Paradoxically, while the demand for foreign workers in Malaysia is increasing due to mega developments, the possibility of social protection for migrant workers has been restricted. The need for decent accommodation, health care, are not in State agenda. Refusing to accept social protection responsibility tend to displace migrant workers. This kind of displacement of migrant workers are incompatible with goals of creating conditions of equity and social protection as enshrined in the Federal Constitution on fundamental liberty. This is due to development planning that are more interested on macro-scale gain but refusing to assume responsibility when migrant workers become displace upon relocation and replacement for work. Migrant workers who are regulated to work in Malaysia are not regulated by a special social protection regime but by employment agents and outsourcers who are keen of profiteering rather than ensuring their wellbeing while in the placement process. Similarly, the e...
Sabah is a destination and transit point for migrant workers, mainly from Indonesia, Bangladesh, ... more Sabah is a destination and transit point for migrant workers, mainly from Indonesia, Bangladesh, the Philippines and other countries in Asia. Often their migration to Sabah in search of employment is done voluntarily. This includes the migrant young girls. Similar to women workers, the young girls being vulnerable, they were exposed to exploitation, cheating, misrepresentation by the employers and agents. They were trapped into debt bondage and forced labour by employers, employment agents or recruiters. Young girls are trapped, forced to work and perform work not suitable for their age and ability and paid less than adults doing similar work. These are common abusive, exploitative conducts practiced on these young girls. They were exploited and forced to pay various fees and their debts inflated to prolong exploitation particularly those smuggled into Sabah. The fact that they were exploited victims, this allows them to be protected under the Malaysia Anti- trafficking In Persons a...
Kanun: Jurnal Undang-undang Malaysia, Dec 1, 2012
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Papers by Dr Rohani Abdul Rahim