Actions by enforcement personnel of the Kuching South City Council (MBKS) to tear down or destroy notices or so-called advertisements pasted by licenced moneylending companies on posts and trees in its area of jurisdiction sometimes ago should continue.
In a way or two it did help to contain, if not to totally solve, the act of borrowing money from these moneylenders. After all, those who need to borrow for reasons known to themselves only, have no other way to get the extra cash needed.
A friend of mine who is very familiar with the situation and who has confided in me about his predicament pertaining to the moneylending sorority pointed out that these moneylending companies are not much different from the unlicenced Ah Long (loan sharks). Moneylenders charge very high interest for money borrowed from them, ranging from eight to 20 per cent, the man told me. This was confirmed by a senior officer from one of the enforcement agencies who is my cousin.
From Kota Samarahan to Tenth Mile, from Bau to Serian, from Tanjung Datu to Lawas, these moneylenders thrive steadily on the high interests they charge on their clients, who include government servants, company workers, pensioners and other salaried members of the public who are required to leave their ATM cards or bank book with the moneylenders. They use the cards or the bank book to withdraw their clients’ salaries at the end of the month, deduct the amount owed plus interest. So if you owe them RM1,000 they will deduct the interest accordingly – for example if the interest is 10 per cent, RM100 is deducted. They will let the borrower get the balance. This is done on a monthly basis. That friend of mine owes quite a huge amount and is paying monthly almost two thirds of his salary to cover his loan from a moneylending company in 7th Mile. He is looking forward to December this year to finish paying that loan. I wish him well.
These moneylenders make it vey easy for one to borrow from them. They make use of their clients to introduce their business to friends and relatives, encouraging these clients with the award of ‘commission’ of undisclosed amount. So it is a case of friends introducing friends; sounds good but actually this is helping the Ah Long to make more money and creating more miseries for your friends. At the beginning, especially when a loan from Ah Long is approved you would be happy but after suffering from shortage of fund even on pay day, then there comes the realisation that involvement in the Ah Long fraternity is a mistake. Lack of fund means the client has to top up the loan, thereby adding further misery.
There have been cases of the Ah Long’s so-called muscle going around looking for errant borrowers, including going to their workplaces; even going to school, if the borrower is a teacher or school staff. This kind of act has caused so much stress and trauma for the borrowers as some Ah Long even employ gangsters or those who look like one to claim payment from borrowers; in actual fact to harass them.
According to that cousin of mine, they have received a few complaints on these harassments with some already being acted upon and the muscle getting arrested but in an instant getting bailed out by their bosses.
This Ah Long business started mushrooming in the first decade of the new millennium and gaining momentum in the second decade. MBKS did the right thing by asking its enforcement personnel to go around pulling down Ah Long’s notices and ads. In fact these officials should go around more often to contain the situation, including checking claims that these Ah Longs are keeping bank cards and books of clients.
As I see it, to most clients, Ah Long are creating rather than solving their problems.
