Nur Muhammad Arif and his father hug each other upon his arrival from Kuching.
SIBU: Nur Mohammad Arif Bokhari, who was detained in Cambodia along with 46 fellow Malaysians recently, vows to never seek work overseas again following his ordeal.
The 23-year-old, who arrived here yesterday morning from Kuching along with four other released detainees, said he had learnt much from his experience and would not want go through it again.
“Never again. I will never go abroad to work. This was such a scary and painful experience and I will never forget it,” he said.
Nur Mohammad Arif was met by his father, who embraced him tightly, before both of them left the airport.
The four other individuals from Sibu, including one woman, were also met by their respective family members.
One of them, Ngu Jun Hui, told reporters that he received the offer to work in Cambodia via WeChat last October.
The 25-year-old said he then travelled to that country alone and was fetched upon arrival by a Cambodian national, who then confiscated his passport.
“I was taken to a house where I was locked up with the others. There was no way for us to escape. We were arrested on Dec 11 along with the human traffickers, who are from China,” he said.
He added that he was returning empty-handed as all his personal belongings had gone missing.
“Those of us, whose passports were missing, were issued temporary ones (provided) by the Malaysian government.”
Meanwhile, the mother of another victim said her son Wong Ching Hung, 25, had been working in Johor when he called her to say that he was heading to Singapore to work.
“Shortly after that, one of his friends told me he had gone to Cambodia to work. Then later, I learnt about the group’s confinement there and I was so worried,” said Wong Hie Ting, adding she had been praying daily at a Buddhist temple here for her son’s safe return.
“Now, my son is back. I thank those who helped secure the return of these detainees, including the federal and state governments, Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah, (Julau MP) Larry Sng and others.”
Ching Hung, who goes by the moniker ‘Honda Bui’ on Facebook, had posted a photograph of himself boarding the flight home from Cambodia with the caption ‘Finally back home to Malaysia’.