Most people would be happy to receive an angbao for Chinese New Year, and if the amount of money within isn't quite what you hoped for, most would politely choose not to make a fuss.

But this was not the case for one Malaysian Member of Parliament (MP) and a group of "gangsters" who purportedly received his angbaos containing RM5 (S$1.40) each — and felt they were "too small".

Making the rounds, finding trouble

Larry Sng is an MP in Sarawak and the president of the Malaysian National Party (Parti Bangsa Malaysia). On Feb. 11, he was out making visits in the town of Julau for the Chinese New Year.

According to Sng in a Facebook post, he had packed some angbaos with RM5 (S$1.40) each, intended to be given away to children. He said they were not meant for adults.

At about 12:30pm, he came across a group of what he called "local gangsters" at an open house. He claimed he told the group it was "small money", but they insisted on taking the angbaos anyway.

Afterwards, the "head of the gang" stuffed an RM20 (S$5.60) note in an angbao and gave it back to Sng.

Later in the day, the head gangster and three others allegedly confronted Sng, "surrounded him", and complained that the angbao was too small. Sng said he agreed and he would give bigger angbaos next year.

Then they asked Sng to transfer RM500 (S$140) to "someone they knew", to which Sng agreed.

But that was not the end of the encounter.

"As I entered the car, they refused to disperse and they started arguing with my supporters, to the point of pushing Tuai Rumah Empi (village leader) to the ground.

It had come to my attention later that the head of the gang had informed someone in my entourage that they had prepared weapons in their car and was planning to attack me.

For my personal safety and for those around me, I went straight to the police station to lodge a report."

Might not have been about the money

Sng speculated that the ire of the "gangsters" may not have stemmed from the size of his angbaos but rather from politics.

He claimed that the head "gangster" had supported one of his political opponents and supposedly lost a lot of money gambling on Sng to lose in the previous general election.

He recounted a previous incident where the same man supposedly hit his car, which was stolen two days later.

In another Facebook post, Sng lamented that the once peaceful town of Julau now resembles the "Wild West."

He claimed that after the introduction of online gambling, Sarawak's districts and towns have been "carved up" and are now controlled by gangsters from different groups.

He also alleged that these gangsters sell drugs and contraband like cigarettes and liquor, and engage in illegal money-lending to trap local leaders and public servants in debt.

In a follow-up post on Feb. 16, Sng revealed that he had personally spoken to Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail about the matter. Free Malaysia Today reported that the Julau police had made an arrest related to the incident.

Top image from Larry Sng's Facebook page.