KUCHING: It is not fair to accuse the Sarawak government of not doing anything to help the 44 Sarawakians detained in Poi Pet prison in Cambodia.
Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department (Corporate Affairs) Abdullah Saidol said this in response to certain parties who slammed the government for not taking any action.
“I wish to make it clear we only knew about the incident when it was leaked to us recently,” he told reporters after attending a ‘Majlis Amanat Perdana Integrity 2019’ (Mapi) at Penview Convention Centre (PCC) here yesterday.
Saidol explained that on Feb 7, Wisma Putra in its press statement confirmed the detention and said they were told about it verbally on Dec 28.
“So, in the whole of January, the state government was not aware of it. We did not ignore the case. In fact, we take it very seriously because most of them are children of Sarawak,” he said.
He further stressed that the issue requires G2G (government to government) arrangement.
“We need to depend on the information given by Wisma Putra. At the same time, we make every effort to meet all the family members of the detainees and give them the assurance that we are serious in bringing them back,” he said.
He then said either today or tomorrow, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg will be briefed on the matter by an officer from Wisma Putra.
“I am not sure whether the media is aware of it or not because after the meeting, the chief minister will send a representative from Sarawak to visit the detainees,” he said.
Saidol said he could not reveal who the representative is as the chief minister will make the announcement himself.
“It is very unfortunate for them as it is believed they could be victims of job scams. People must be very careful and I hope this won’t happen anymore.”
