Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 · Updated to 30 Sep 2025 · Part VI · Miscellaneous
58. Restriction on media reporting and publication
Official textFrom Laws of Malaysia Online, unchanged
Notwithstanding any written laws to the contrary, any mass media report regarding—
any step taken in relation to a trafficked person or smuggled migrant in any proceedings be it at the pre-trial, trial or post-trial stage;
any trafficked person in respect of whom custody or protection is accorded under Part V; or
any other matters under this Act, shall not reveal the name or address, or include any particulars calculated to lead to the identification of any trafficked person or smuggled migrant so concerned either as being the trafficked person or smuggled migrant or as being a witness to any proceedings.
A picture of—
any trafficked person or smuggled migrant in any of the matters mentioned in subsection (1); or
any other person, place or thing which may lead to the identification of the trafficked person or smuggled migrant, shall not be published in any newspaper or magazine or transmitted through any electronic medium.
Any person who contravenes subsection (1) or (2) commits an offence.
Anti-Trafficking in Persons and
trafficking in persons
“trafficking in persons” means all actions of recruiting, conveying, transferring, acquiring, maintaining, harbouring, providing or receiving, a person, for the purpose of exploitation, by the following means: (a) threat or use of force or other forms of coercion; (b) abduction; (c) fraud; (d) deception; (e) abuse of power; (f) abuse of the position of vulnerability of a person to an act of trafficking in persons; or (g) the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to obtain the consent of a person having control over the trafficked person;
Anti-Smuggling of Migrants 51
smuggling of migrants
“smuggling of migrants” means— (a) arranging, facilitating or organizing, directly or indirectly, a person’s unlawful entry into or through, or unlawful exit from, any country of which the person is not a citizen or permanent resident either knowing or having reason to believe that the person’s entry or exit is unlawful; and (b) recruiting, conveying, transferring, concealing, harbouring or providing any other assistance or service for the purpose of carrying out the acts referred to in paragraph (a);
Terms defined in s 2
smuggled migrant
Defined · s 2“smuggled migrant” means a person who is the object of the act of smuggling of migrants, regardless of whether that person participated in the act of smuggling of migrants;
smuggling of migrants
Defined · s 2“smuggling of migrants” means— (a) arranging, facilitating or organizing, directly or indirectly, a person’s unlawful entry into or through, or unlawful exit from, any country of which the person is not a citizen or permanent resident either knowing or having reason to believe that the person’s entry or exit is unlawful; and (b) recruiting, conveying, transferring, concealing, harbouring or providing any other assistance or service for the purpose of carrying out the acts referred to in paragraph (a);
trafficked person
Defined · s 2“trafficked person” means any person who is the victim or object of an act of trafficking in persons;
trafficking in persons
Defined · s 2“trafficking in persons” means all actions of recruiting, conveying, transferring, acquiring, maintaining, harbouring, providing or receiving, a person, for the purpose of exploitation, by the following means: (a) threat or use of force or other forms of coercion; (b) abduction; (c) fraud; (d) deception; (e) abuse of power; (f) abuse of the position of vulnerability of a person to an act of trafficking in persons; or (g) the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to obtain the consent of a person having control over the trafficked person;