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Agence France-Presse

Li Nang, a young migrant worker wearing hot pants and high heels, stood before the statue of a gilt goddess garlanded with marigolds and fairy lights in Kuala Lumpur as she prayed for good business – and her own safety.
Malaysia’s underground community of undocumented female workers was thrust into the spotlight when news emerged that Kim Jong-nam was assassinated by two women migrants using lethal nerve agent VX on February 13 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Since then, a Malaysian police crackdown on undocumented workers like Li has escalated – making their already vulnerable existence even more precarious.
Watch: Malaysian authorities sweep Kuala Lumpur airport


Airport CCTV footage shows two women approaching the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and apparently rubbing his face with a cloth.
Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, and Doan Thi Huong, 28, from Vietnam, have since been charged with the murder and face the death penalty if found guilty.
South Korea have said Kim Jong-un ordered the killing of his estranged sibling, who had lived overseas for years but had voiced criticism of the regime, and engaged two outsiders to carry it out.
Some are even threatened by their employers that they will be handed to immigration, or even threatened with rape
Aegile Fernandez, migrant advocate
Both women have told diplomats from their countries they were duped into believing that they were taking part in a TV prank show but Malaysian police have rejected their claims.
Little is known about them, with police saying that Huong worked at an “entertainment outlet” while Aisyah was a masseuse at a spa, but immigration experts say the secrecy surrounding their lives illustrates the clandestine existence led by thousands of undocumented Southeast Asian women migrants.
Many migrants travel to Malaysia through formal labour contracts, but thousands more take advantage of being allowed to work in Singapore and Malaysia for 30 days at a time, travelling back and forth between two or three countries and trying to earn as much as possible before their luck runs out.
Taking up jobs as cleaners, waitresses, masseuses and prostitutes, they live in the grip of a murky system, vulnerable to exploitation and harassment by police looking to shake them down for bribes.
As she prepared for work, Li, a 25-year-old Vietnamese prostitute, kept up a steady exchange of messages with her sister in Ho Chi Minh City, in an attempt to reassure relatives even as she herself feared for her safety.
“I texted her saying ‘I have to take the risk. What choice do I have? I need the money’,” Li said inside a dimly lit bar.
Watch: Kim Jong-nam’s death sparks diplomatic row


The arrests of her compatriot Huong and Indonesian Siti have brought unwelcome attention to a community which already has much to fear from Malaysian authorities.
At a pub in the Petaling Jaya suburb, Filipina waitress Mika (not her real name) said police had intensified their efforts to hunt down illegal workers like her following Kim’s assassination.
Three of her friends working in the same bar were recently arrested by police.
Why female agents are North Korean regime’s weapon of choice
“Fortunately I was off on that day. I think God saved me,” the single mother said. “I am now living in constant fear. I do not want to be caught.”
The 35-year-old previously paid 3,600 ringgit (US$800) to an employment agent to secure a long-term work visa, but he stole the money.
Detention camps and migrant graves reveal grim reality in Malaysia
“Now I have a monthly visa. Before it expires I head to Thailand where I spend three nights. I give an agent a fee of 1,000 ringgit and he gets a new visa for another month,” she said. “Life goes on like this every month.”
Malaysia, Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy, is highly dependent on foreign labour.
According to a World Bank report in 2015, the country hosts some 2.1 million registered migrants and likely more than one million others who are undocumented.

Women are especially vulnerable, with agents or employers forcing some of them to live together in the same house under constant surveillance, leaving them isolated and with little to no contact with the outside world, migrant rights’ activist Aegile Fernandez said.
Often, their passports are withheld so they have no means of running away, leaving them open to abuse and exploitation, said Fernandez, co-director of Tenaganita, a Malaysian non-profit focusing on migrant worker protection.
“Some are even threatened by their employers that they will be handed to immigration, or even threatened with rape,” she said. “If you were in that situation, you would be in fear. You know there’s no way out, you just continue working.”


Life in the shadows: how Kim Jong-nam assassination sheds light on Malaysia’s hidden world of female migrants

Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong and Indonesian Siti Aishah have been charged over Kim Jong-nam’s assassination. Photo: Reuters

(FILES) This file photo taken on March 1, 2017 shows Vietnamese national Doan Thi Huong (L) being escorted after a court appearance with Indonesian national Siti Aisyah at the magistrates' court in Sepang for their alleged role in the assassination of Kim Jong-Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. Malaysia's underground community of undocumented female workers was thrust into the spotlight when news emerged that Kim Jong-Nam was assassinated by the two women migrants using lethal nerve agent VX on February 13 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Little is known about them, with police saying that Huong worked at an "entertainment outlet" while Aisyah was a masseuse at a spa, but immigration experts say the secrecy surrounding their lives illustrates the clandestine existence led by thousands of undocumented Southeast Asian women migrants. / AFP PHOTO / Mohd RASFAN / TO GO WITH Malaysia-NKorea-labour-migration-social, FOCUS by M JEGATHESAN and Elizabeth LAW

Leaked video appears to show killers attacking Kim Jong-nam

A screenshot from a CCTV video shows a woman in white at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, moments before she pounces on a man identified as Kim Jong-nam. Photo: Fuji TV

epa05795186 A South Korean watches TV showing breaking news about a female suspect involved in the alleged assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's half-brother, at a restaurand in Pyeongchang, Gangwon-do, South Korea, 15 February 2017. According to South Korean media reports on 14 February 2017, Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has apparently been assassinated by unknown persons at the Kuala Lumpur airport. He reportedly immigrated to China in 1995, and has since then lived there under Chinese protection. EPA/JEON HEON-KYUN

This combo shows a file photo (L) taken on May 4, 2001 of a man believed to be Kim Jong-Nam, son of the late-North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, getting off a bus to board an All Nippon Airways plane at Narita airport near Tokyo and a file photo (R) of his half-brother, current North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, on a balcony of the Grand People's Study House following a mass parade in Pyongyang on May 10, 2016. The half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, who has been murdered in Malaysia, pleaded for his life after a failed assassination bid in 2012, lawmakers briefed by South Korea's spy chief said on February 15, 2017. Jong-Nam, the eldest son of the late former leader Kim Jong-Il, was once seen as heir apparent but fell out of favour following an embarrassing botched bid in 2001 to enter Japan on a forged passport and visit Disneyland. / AFP PHOTO / Toshifumi KITAMURA AND Ed JONES

North Korean suspects Ri Jae Nam (front L), Hong Song Hac (back L) and Ri Ji Hyun (R) are seen in this undated handout released by the Royal Malaysia Police to Reuters on February 19, 2017. Police identified the three men as suspects in connection with the murder of Kim Jong Nam. Royal Malaysia Police/Handout via Reuters. ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

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Taking up jobs as cleaners, waitresses, masseuses and prostitutes, the women live in the grip of a murky system, vulnerable to exploitation and harassment by police looking to shake them down for bribes
