After having gone missing for almost three weeks, Samantha Leong, 28, has safely returned home to her family.

The eldest daughter in her family was found in Negri Sembilan by Kampung Bakar Batu village chief Chong Wan Yu.

Samantha had apparently been staying in a male friend’s house after she disappeared on Dec 20.

Chong, who is also Jempul MCA division vice-chairman, immediately made a call to Ipoh Barat MCA Youth chief Aldrich Low. Low had called a press conference late last month urging the public to assist in finding Samantha to bring her home.

Low then swiftly notified Samantha’s father Leong Kok Kee, 57, and mother Ng Chow Sim, 56, who then made their way to meet Samantha and Chong in Putrajaya on Monday to bring her home.

Speaking to reporters shortly after arriving at the Perak MCA headquarters in Ipoh, Samantha related that she left home and took a bus to meet her friend, a man in his 30s whom she had met on Facebook more than a year ago.

“I left that day because I wasn’t happy after I had an argument with my mother the night before,” she said.

Asked why she did not contact her parents over the last two weeks, Samantha said she threw away her handphone because she wanted to remain uncontactable. She also said she had been staying at her friend’s house and was well looked after by his parents.

“I told them I was just a friend who came for a holiday and they allowed me to stay,” she said, before apologising to her parents.

Low said the parents of Samantha friend parents only realised she had been reported missing after they saw the news of her family pleading for her to return home.

“She was then brought to the nearest police station to confirm her identity, before having her trip home arranged,” Low said.

Samantha’s mother, Ng, said she cried every day and had difficulty sleeping at night because of how worried she was.

“Now that Samantha’s back, I am relieved and I hope she will listen to what I say as it’s for her own good,” she said.

On Dec 23, The Star reported that Ng was appealing for Samantha to return home and hoped that she could attend her younger brother’s wedding on Dec 29.

Ng had said that Samantha informed her that she was going to the washroom in the marketplace, where Samantha was helping out at Ng’s market stall, and was not seen after that.