Malaysia cracks down on undocumented female workers.

Malaysian police have intensified crackdowns on undocumented female workers since the assassination of North Korean citizen Kim Chol in the country on February 13.

Undocumented female workers in Malaysia are highly vulnerable to abuse. Photo: AFP

Two women, Doan Thi Huong (Vietnamese) and Siti Aisyah (Indonesian), have been charged with murder for allegedly smearing poison on the face of a North Korean victim at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 on February 13 and will appear in court on April 13.

There is currently little information available about the activities of these two women in Malaysia. Local police have only stated that Huong worked at "an entertainment establishment" and Aisyah was a massage therapist at a beauty salon. AFP quoted immigration experts as saying that the mysterious lives of these two women in Malaysia reflect the clandestine existence of thousands of Southeast Asian women who come to Malaysia to work illegally and live in fear of arrest.

Many people come to Malaysia to work under legal employment contracts, but thousands of women exploit the 30-day work permit policy in Singapore and Malaysia to work in these countries, moving to another country each time their contract expires before returning. They may work in various jobs, from cleaning and waitressing to massage therapists and prostitution, according to AFP.

A 25-year-old Vietnamese woman working in a dimly lit bar in Malaysia said she constantly texted her sister in Ho Chi Minh City to reassure her worried family. “I texted my sister every day, telling her I had to take the risk. I had no other choice, I needed the money,” the woman told AFP.

A Filipino woman working as an undocumented waitress in Malaysia also expressed her fears after three of her compatriots were recently arrested in a crackdown.

Malaysian labor rights activist Aegile Fernandez said that brokers or employers often withhold all personal documents, force female workers to live in the same house, closely monitor them, isolate them, and limit their contact with the outside world. “Some undocumented female workers are even threatened with rape or handed over to the police if they try to escape,” Fernandez said.

According to TNO