AS the 47 Malaysians continue to languish in a Cambodian jail over allegations they were members of a Malaysian-Chinese illegal online gambling ring, Sarawak politicians are tripping over one another to be one who secures their release.

Julau MP Larry Sng is flying to Siem Reap tomorrow with some of the parents of the Sarawak victims and a posse of handpicked journalists for  “first-hand access to the situation”.

From Siem Reap, they will travel by road to the town of Poipet on the Thai-Cambodian border where the 44 detainees from Sarawak and three from Sabah are held in the Banteay Meanchey provincial prison.

Poipet is reputedly Cambodia’s gambling capital.

Sng on Thursday held a press conference in Kuching to highlight the plight of the 47.

He said the Sarawakians are from “poor families” and have been detained in a Cambodian provincial jail without trial and without notice to the Malaysian Embassy in Phnom Penh.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry, however, said later that day that the embassy was notified of the detention on December 28.

Yesterday, the PKR MP disclosed he was in discussions with the Immigration Department to temporarily allow some family members of the victims, who are barred from leaving the country due to “insolvency problems”, to travel with him to Cambodia.

Sng in a statement yesterday stated that a relative of one of the detainees, who is identified as “Uncle Azra”, had gained access to the detainees.

Uncle Azra, Sng said, visited the prison together with the Cambodian Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Oknha Othsman Hassan.

Sng said Oknha is said to have told Uncle Azra not to worry and that he would assist in the detainees’ release.

NGO Cambodian Muslim Youth Alliance is also providing assistance by supplying halal food to the detainees.

Sng’s involvement in the affair has been heavily criticised by party colleagues in the state leadership council who said his actions appeared to be to seek “political attention” for himself rather than to be due to genuine concern for the welfare of the detained Malaysians. They also said Sng is also attempting to make the Foreign Ministry look incompetent in looking after the detainees and securing their release.

“We knew about the detention earlier but after some discussions, we decided to leave it to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to handle it,” a PKR source told The Malaysian Insight.

Sng is reported to have been advised against getting personally involved and to allow the process to take place government-to-government.

Sarawak PKR, however, decided to make it their “official” stand to help two days later when its adviser Hafsah Harun, appealed to  state and national leaders to visit the families of the detained Malaysians.

Hafsah, who said their visits could help to ease the detainees’ worries and fears, also said she was making arrangements for the families of the detained Malaysians to meet up with Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

So far there has been no word if the meeting will take place.

Hafsah, a former state minister in the cabinet of Abdul Rahman Yaakub, had also called on Malaysians not to speculate on the detention, particularly on social media, which she said could jeopardise the negotiation process for their safe release.

Yesterday, Sarawak Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Fatimah Abdullah Datuk Fatimah Abdullah visited Marsita Mohammad and Mustapha Khan Habbibulah, the parents of 21 year-old female detainee Nur Ridwana Syahzani.

Fatimah said that even as Sarawak respects and appreciates what Wisma Putera and the Malaysian embassy in Phnom Penh were doing to secure a release, the state government had put in a request to both parties that the state wants “the best legal service” to be provided to the 44 Sarawakians.

Wisma Putera said the 47, arrested on December 11, were victims of a bogus Chinese recruitment agency which had promised them well-paying jobs in the country.

Poipet city deputy police chief Sok Bora, however, said the Malaysians were members of an illegal online gambling ring.

The 47 Malaysians, along with eight Chinese nationals, were arrested in raids on two villas on December 11.

The Khmer Times news portal had quoted Sok as saying the Malaysians and Chinese nationals “were part of a foreign mafia who were hiding in Cambodia in order to run an illegal gambling operation online”.

The portal today reported the Cambodian Justice Ministry would review the detention.

The Malaysians are aged between 19 to 44. – February 12, 2019.