Kim Jong Nam's murder: Suspect Siti Aishah can converse in English, Korean - Mother

Siti Aishah’s mother, Benah, 50, told Indonesian news portal, Kumparan that she was shocked that her daughter has been detained in connection with the murder of Kim Jong Nam on Monday.

“Siti Aishah can converse in English and Korean. She had never attended any language courses but capable to learn from other people’s conversations,” said Benah, when met by the news portal at her residence in Serang, Banten, Friday.

Benah also said that her youngest child had worked at a clothing retail outlet in Batam before she started working Jakarta three years ago,

Siti Aishah, 25, is a frequent visitor in Malaysia, but Benah said her visits were strictly as a tourist.

“I know that she would visit Malaysia for holidays,” she added.

When news broke about Siti Aishah’s involvement in the assassination, Benah attempted to contact her friends. But her attempt turned futile.

Before she resided in Malaysia, Siti Aisyah once lived in Tambora district, West Jakarta, in 2000.

She lived with her daughter, Gunawan Hasyim until 2004 before she uprooted herself to Malaysia.

The last time Siti Aishah returned to her family’s home in Serang, Banten was on Jan 21.

Benah said, she only learnt about Siti Aishah’s connection in the murder from the latter’s former in-laws, who found out after watching the news.

“I don’t know who to contact. I only found out about this last night,” she said.

Benah also said Siti Aisyah used to send her money regularly.

“In a month, she would send Rp500,000, but not monthly,” she said.

Siti Aishah’s ex-mother in-law, Lian Kiong @Akiong as quoted by Kumparan said that Siti Aisyah used to change her telephone number all the time.

“A year ago, Siti Aishah’s son, Rio, 7, tried calling his mother's mobile but most of the times, his calls did not go through. Her mobile number keeps changing,” saud Akiong, during an interview by Kumparan at her residence in Tambora, Jakarta.

Akiong also said that Siti Aishah hardly called to ask about Rio, who is under her care.

The last time Akiong met Siti Aishah was on Jan 28 when the woman visited her son in Tambora.

Reuters reported that her passport bore the name Siti Aishah and was born on Feb 11, 1992 in Serang, Indonesia.

Malaysian police arrested Siti Aishah on Thursday, to facilitate investigations of the murder, and was remanded in custody for seven days along with another woman who held a Vietnamese travel document, who was caught trying to leave the country through klia2 on Wednesday.

The first suspect detained had travel documents by the name of Don Thi Huong, with a birth date of May 1988 and birthplace of Nam Dinh, Vietnam.

Kim Jong Nam, 46, was assaulted at the same airport on Monday with what was believed to be a poison as he was about to leave on a flight to Macau.