Paying the price for others’ debts
Ah long now targeting debtor’s or family’s neighbours to pressure them to pay
JOHOR BARU: A couple is living in fear after loan sharks set fire to their neighbour’s car over their son’s debt.
Lim Lau Long, 62, said his neighbour’s car was damaged after a Molotov cocktail was hurled into his neighbour’s porch in Taman Desa Cemerlang here, at around 4am on Feb 2.
“He had woken up to go to the bathroom when he noticed the fire and quickly put it out. He then found a note on the floor with my home address and my son’s name written on it.
“My neighbour called the telephone number on the note, which had a Singapore area code, and told the ‘ah long’ that they had targeted the wrong house.
“The illegal moneylender reportedly said he had purposely harassed my neighbour to put pressure on us,” he told a press conference organised by Tebrau MP Jimmy Puah’s office here yesterday.
Lim, who works as a welder, said the ah long also asked him to pay his son’s debt of S$7,800 (RM27,736) or he would act against his other neighbours soon.
“My wife and I feel helpless as we have not been in contact with our 36-year-old son for more than 10 years and we have no idea what he is up to. The last we heard, he was working in Singapore as a chicken rice seller,” he added.
The couple said they stopped contacting their son because he used to borrow money from loan sharks to feed his gambling habit, and Lim had previously helped him repay a debt of more than RM3,000.
“After that, we did not allow him to come home. We also want to state that we have cut ties with him so the ‘ah long’ should take it up with him to repay the debt instead of targeting innocent people like us and our neighbours,” he said.
Lim’s wife Chan Siew Lin, 57, said they felt bad for what had happened to their neighbour and offered to chip in to repair the damaged vehicle.
“We have been good friends with our neighbour for more than 20 years but because of the incident, we got into a verbal fight.
“Our other neighbours are also upset with us and worried that they might be the next target,” said the mother of two.
Chan, a home-based tailor, said she and her husband have been taking turns to stay up at night to prevent other incidents.
Lim said the incident has caused them a lot of stress and they did not enjoy their Chinese New Year celebration.
He added that the sleepless nights have taken a toll on his wife’s health and her blood pressure has spiked.
Meanwhile, Puah’s special officer Jalex Lee said he would assist the couple by following up on the case with the police and would request for more patrols in the area.
“This is also a new tactic used by ah long where they target the debtor’s or their family’s neighbours to put pressure on them to repay the debt.
“In this case, I urge the moneylender to stop harassing Lim’s family and neighbours as they were not the ones who borrowed the money,” he added.
When contacted, Seri Alam OCPD Supt Mohd Sohaimi Ishak said an investigation is ongoing under Section 435 of the Penal Code for mischief by fire.