Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - Woman back home after forced marriage in Malaysia

Woman back home after forced marriage in Malaysia

Woman back home after forced marriage in Malaysia

A woman who worked as a maid in Malaysia was repatriated to Cambodia late last week after years of abuse at the hands of her employers, including a forced marriage.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Chum Sounry confirmed Oun Boi, 26, had returned on Friday with her 1-year-old son. He said her other child had remained in Malaysia.

Boi travelled to Malaysia in 2010 through the government-approved GPGC International recruitment agency, but fled her employers in 2014. She then worked for another couple, who reportedly forced her to marry an Indonesian man with whom she had two children.

Boi claimed her husband had forced her to work on construction sites, and said she had attempted several times to flee from him.

Adhoc women’s rights representative Ron Srey Moch said Boi had returned to her home province of Kampong Speu.

“She had problems with her husband, and her elder child has been kept with her husband,” Moch said.

The ministry’s Sounry appealed to Cambodian workers abroad to “be careful”.

“If they want to work in Malaysia, they should travel there legally,” he said. “For legal workers it is easier for the embassy to intervene with the company as well.”

The news comes two months after Prime Minister Hun Sen entreated his Malaysian counterpart to accept more Cambodian workers. A ban on maids migrating to Malaysia was lifted late last year.

In related news, two Cambodians were repatriated from China on Saturday.

MOST VIEWED

  • Wing Bank opens new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004

    Wing Bank celebrates first anniversary as commercial bank with launch of brand-new branch. One year since officially launching with a commercial banking licence, Wing Bank on March 14 launched a new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004. The launch was presided over by

  • Siem Reap airport to close after new one opens

    After the new Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI) opens in October, the existing complex serving the northwestern province will be “completely closed”, according to State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) spokesman Sin Chansereyvutha. SAI developer Angkor International Airport Investment (Cambodia) Co Ltd (AIAI) last month

  • Girl from Stung Meanchey dump now college grad living in Australia

    After finishing her foundational studies at Trinity College and earning a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Melbourne in 2022, Ron Sophy, a girl who once lived at the Stung Meanchey garbage dump and scavenged for things to sell, is now working at a private

  • Rare plant fetches high prices from Thai, Chinese

    Many types of plants found in Cambodia are used as traditional herbs to treat various diseases, such as giloy or guduchi (Tinospora cordifolia) or aromatic/sand ginger (Kaempferia galangal) or rough cocklebur (Xanthium Strumartium). There is also a plant called coral, which is rarely grown

  • Ministry using ChatGPT AI to ‘ease workload’; Khmer version planned

    The Digital Government Committee is planning to make a Khmer language version of popular artificial intelligence (AI) technology ChatGPT available to the public in the near future, following extensive testing. On March 9, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications revealed that it has been using the

  • Cambodia returns 15M Covid jabs to China

    Prime Minister Hun Sen said Cambodia will return 15 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to China for donation to other countries. The vaccines in question were ordered but had not yet arrived in Cambodia. While presiding over the Ministry of Health’s annual meeting held on