SEREMBAN, July 28 (Sin Chew Daily) — Four female Chinese nationals who came to Malaysia to seek a greener pasture end up looking for help with a white flag.

The four women arrived in Malaysia last February to work in a night club at Taman AST Seremban, but they were stranded here after the Movement Control Order (MCO) was imposed from March 18 last year.

All four lost their jobs and did not have enough money to return to their homes in China.

Initially they planned to remain in Malaysia pending lifting of MCO but the COVID-19 pandemic did not show any improvement until today.

They did not know how to seek help from the Embassy of China and were forced to put up a white flag to seek help like the locals.

The white flag campaign is a community initiative to help those in desperate need for food and assistance due to the worsening COVID-19 pandemic.

People who are struggling financially are encouraged to reach out for help by displaying a white flag in front of their homes as a sign they need assistance.

Local resident Datuk Zhang saw the white flag near his office about two weeks ago and discovered the plight of the four women from China.

Zhang said he had supplied food to the women earlier. Then more women from China sought help from him.

Zhang contacted local charitable organizations and elected representatives to help them.

"I have provided food to the needy for locals and foreigners. The foreigners are unable to return home at this moment and need help too," he said.

One of them, Xiao Ping, 50, said the Chinese women stranded here were single mothers with children.

They had come to Malaysia to earn more money for their children but did not expect to depend on relatives from China to support them financially for food and logistics expenses.

"We don’t speak the local language and could not find other jobs. After the pub closed, we were afraid to go out due to the worsening pandemic," she said.

Another woman, identified as Xiao Hong, 38, said she missed her two children and relied on video conferencing to communicate with them.

Mei Mei, 45, said she opted to leave China due to poverty but did not expect to become a burden to the family.

"I want to go home, but we need to buy air tickets, pay for 21 days of quarantine charges and other fees too," said Mei Mei.

Ah Ying, 40, said there were other Chinese nationals in the area but the four of them did not know the rest.

The four women were from Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Fuzhou and Fujian.

They were working in Malaysia before the pandemic.