This was stated by a researcher with a Jakarta-based security think-tank.
Nava Nuraniyah, of the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (Ipac), said some of these radicals took advantage of moderate Islamic groups in Hong Kong to connect with these maids.
In a report in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), she said there were many kinds of Muslim groups there, “most of them peaceful and moderate, helping migrant workers to make friends and anchoring them to a familiar environment”.
These IS operatives worked to influence the women by exploiting channels developed by the moderates, while fellow militants also attempted to lure them through social media.
Through her survey, Nava was able to trace at least 50 radical female domestic workers in east Asia taking part in extremist discussion groups online, the report said.
Of these, 43 had worked or were now working in Hong Kong, three in Taiwan and four in Singapore.
But Nava believes the real number could be about 100.
She said the arrests of two Indonesian women – Dian Yulia Novi and Ika Puspitasari (alias Tasnima Salsabila) – in December last year, after they had allegedly planned to launch suicide bombing operations, had shocked experts.
Dian allegedly planned an explosion at the presidential palace in Jakarta and Ika was said to be preparing a similar attack in Bali.
Both women, who would have been Indonesia’s first female suicide bombers had their plans taken off, had worked as domestic workers, one in Hong Kong and the other in Singapore and Taiwan.
The SCMP report said their backgrounds intrigued experts as they were earning better salaries abroad than their counterparts at home and could provide better lives for their families.
“We were shocked by the arrest of these two women and we started wondering what their motivations were,” Nava was quoted as saying.
In its report on the radicalisation issue last month, Ipac said a “radical fringe” of Indonesian domestic helpers in Hong Kong may have been attracted to militant circles by “the search for a sense of community in an unfamiliar environment”.
It also said the militant preachers “understood that the Hong Kong women were very eager to learn and help, and were therefore an easy target for exploitation”, with some giving online lectures and others coming to teach and raise money.
SCMP also quoted Dete Aliah, a researcher on women issues and managing director of the Institute of International Peace Building based in Jakarta, as attributing the trend of radicalisation among domestic workers to a sense of isolation.
“Some feel they have everything, earned good money, had a better life, but they felt empty…
“They felt that what was lacking was to be a ‘good Muslim’,” Dete was quoted as saying.
Southeast Asian states vow cooperation on ‘growing’ militant threat