THERE was not a dry eye among the parents and relatives of the 40 young Sarawakians who had waited anxiously for their return at the Kuching international airport this afternoon.

For Maria Goretti, the sight of her 24-year-old brother, Mark Rogers William Nun, being carried piggyback by another fellow Sarawakian from the aircraft to the waiting lounge was too much to bear.

The 33-year-old from the central Sarawak town of Sibu just let her emotion go as she hugged and kissed her younger brother with tears flowing freely.

Mark had injured his left knee which made walking difficult. After clearing immigration, he was quickly whisked to the Sarawak general hospital.

“He didn’t tell us he had gone to Cambodia for work,” Maria said prior to the arrival of her brother.

“I only knew it when a friend of his came to our house in Sibujaya late on February 2 to inquire if the Mark was on the list of detained Malaysians in Cambodia.

“We (Maria and a 30-year-old sister) thought he was still working as a surveyor on the Pan Borneo highway.”

Maria said the last time she heard from her brother was at the end of November. The siblings are orphans.

“I’m relieved now that he’s home,” Maria turned around to tell reporters as she helped push her brother’s wheelchair to the airport lift and on their way to the Sarawak General Hospital.

For the youngest released detainee, 19-year-old Jeffrydean Jude, the homecoming was “depressing” as none of his family members from the east coast town of Keningau was there to welcome him.

“I’m envious watching the homecoming these Sarawakians are getting. Hopefully, my father will pick me up in Kota Kinabalu,” Jude said.

He and two other Sabahans will fly home from Kuching to Kota Kinabalu at 9.30pm today.

Jeffrydean does not know what sort of welcome he will get.

“I didn’t tell my father I was going to Cambodia to work. If I did, I’m certain he would have not allowed me to go.

“So I told him I’ll be working in (peninsular) Malaysia.”

Jeffrydean was imprisoned in the the Banteay Meanchey provincial jail with his older friend, Phillipe Ho Chee Chen, 25, whom he had convinced to go with him to Cambodia.

The 52 year-old mother of another young Sarawakian said she is relieved now that the ordeal is over.

Evelyn Christy said ever since she was informed that her 20 year-old daughter Eviana Nazreen Sadin had been arrested and was held in a Cambodian jail, she could not eat or sleep properly.

“I even fell sick from all the worries,” the housewife said.

“Today, I’m just so happy and I cannot find the words to describe my feelings.”

Eviana did not say much, just “I’m so happy”.

She intends to spend time with her mother and “laze around the house” – a low-cost flat at Batu 6 Jalan Matang in Kuching.

The chartered JC International Airlines Airbus 320 aircraft, on a direct flight from Siem Reap, touched down at the Kuching international airport at 2.15pm.

Also on board the Cambodian carrier were Sarawak Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Fatimah Abdullah and Santubong MP Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, who had secured their release.

The Malaysians were arrested and detained on December 11 in the border town of Poipet over allegations they were involved in running an illegal online gambling operation in the city.

They were given a “temporary release” by the court to enable them to fly out of the country. Their charges however, will still remain on record.

The Sarawak government paid for all the expenses incurred in repatriating the Malaysians back home, including their stay in a hotel before flying home, their US$30 exit fee and the charter of the aircraft. – February 17, 2019.