U.S. may alienate Muslims over human trade: Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia dismissed on Monday possible U.S. sanctions over human trafficking and warned Washington of alienating Muslims after it blacklisted mostly Islamic countries.

The U.S. last month ranked Muslim states -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Iran, Malaysia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria and Qatar -- as among the worst human trade offenders, and said they may face sanctions.

"We are not bothered about...the sanctions," Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said. "I don't think we need to respond to that sort of pressure."

"The U.S. really needs to be friendly to Muslim countries," he told retired Malaysian diplomats. "This is not a good development as they have just appointed a special envoy to OIC." Malaysia heads the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Conference.

U.S. President George W. Bush said last week in a speech to mark the 50th anniversary of the Islamic Centre in Washington that the appointment would demonstrate to Muslim communities "our interest in respectful dialogue and continued friendship."

In its annual report on human trafficking published last month, the U.S. State Department named 16 countries subjected to possible sanctions, including the loss of U.S. aid and U.S. support for World Bank and International Monetary Fund loans.

Syed Hamid said Malaysia would introduce a new law soon to prevent human trafficking.

"In Malaysia's case, we do not need to be apologetic," he said. "We have moved to the right direction. The law against human trafficking is going to be passed by parliament in this current session."

Still, Indonesia and other countries that supply most of the workers say Malaysia has not done enough.

In May, Kuala Lumpur ruled out laws to enforce better working conditions for foreign maids.

Asked if laws were needed to specify working conditions for the maids, Home Minister Radzi Sheikh Ahmad said: "We cannot have maids having a holiday, weekends off. It's up to the employers to give time to the maids to rest."

With Malaysians reluctant to take up menial jobs, the country is one of Asia's largest importers of foreign labor, which makes up a quarter of a workforce of about 10.5 million, particularly on plantations, in construction and as maids.

Malaysians got a harrowing glimpse into the treatment of some domestic workers when newspapers reported the death in April of an Indian migrant worker after eight months of being beaten, chained up and starved by his employers in a sauce business.

India and Malaysia are hammering out a draft agreement to ensure better protection for Indian workers in Malaysia.

Although the southeast Asian nation does not employ maids from India, many Indian workers who take up jobs in construction and manufacturing in Malaysia say employers change their contract terms after they have begun their jobs.

Human rights group have long urged Malaysia to plug loopholes in labor and immigration laws that expose migrant workers to the risk of abuse and exploitation by employers and recruiters.

Indonesian maids in Malaysia often work a grueling 16 to 18 hours a day, seven days a week, and earn less than 25 U.S. cents an hour, U.S. group Human Rights Watch has said.

(Additional reporting by Clarence Fernandez)