Left with financial and emotional scars by foreign spouses
PETALING JAYA: For Mira, a 39-year-old beauty spa owner, what began as a shared dream left her carrying the financial burden after her marriage collapsed.
Three years after the divorce, she still remembers signing the documents that changed her life.
“When you’re in love, you don’t think about legal responsibilities,” she said.
“You believe you’re building a future together.”
Mira met her former husband, a foreign national, through business acquaintances about a decade ago.
They dated for several years before marrying but did not have any children.
Mira said she never questioned registering the spa under her name because they shared the same dream, with plans to expand the business gradually.
However, her husband persuaded her to expand before they were financially ready.
She took a personal loan to support the business, adding to her financial burden after the marriage ended.
Mira became suspicious when her husband frequently returned home late, claiming to have met clients despite securing no new business.
“I couldn’t take it anymore and decided to end the marriage,” she said.
After the divorce, Mira was left responsible for the business while caring for her elderly parents, who now face health issues.
She refinanced her house and moved the spa to a smaller shoplot with lower rent.
The business is now doing well, but at a heavy emotional and financial cost.
“You can love someone. But when money, business or legal documents are involved, you also have to protect yourself,” she said.
For Mira’s friend Ina, 27, life changed when her husband disappeared last year.
She said he was caring and responsible when they met in 2022, but his behaviour changed after he developed an online gambling addiction following their marriage.
Ina said he became more short-tempered after she discovered the habit.
She also alleged that his relationship with another woman further strained their marriage.
She said her husband eventually left her and their young son. She has been unable to contact him since.
“There was no goodbye, no support for our child and no answers,” she said.
To support her son, Ina turned to affiliate marketing on social media, creating videos and livestreams with her smartphone.
Affiliate marketing is now her main source of income, supplemented by decoration jobs and a home-based cake business.
Businessman Johnson, 45, thought he had found someone to spend his life with.
Wanting to prove his commitment, he gave the woman money whenever she asked, usually saying she needed medicine for her sick mother in her home country.
The requests eventually totalled almost RM20,000.
“I never saw it as losing money. I saw it as building a future together,” he said.
Doubts surfaced when Johnson noticed the woman kept her social media accounts private despite giving him the impression she was single.
After checking with a close friend, he discovered she was still married and had a child in her home country.
Johnson said he was relieved to learn the truth before making her his business partner in his sports bar in Kuala Lumpur.
“It wasn’t the money that hurt the most. It was realising the person I trusted hadn’t been honest with me,” he said.
The cases come as authorities raise concerns about relationships being used to operate businesses under Malaysians’ names.
Selangor local government and tourism committee chairman Ng Suee Lim said the state had detected alleged cases involving foreign nationals using marriages with Malaysians to obtain business licences.
He said such arrangements made enforcement difficult because the licences were registered under the Malaysian spouse’s name.
Similar concerns were raised by Kelantan Malay Chamber of Commerce president Wan Zulkifli Wan Abdullah.
He advised Malaysians to exercise caution before allowing their names or business licences to be used by others, warning they could face compounds, tax obligations and legal action if regulations were breached.
