From paint to petrol bombs: Malaysian loan sharks get more brazen

Victims of violent acts and threats by loan sharks have been urged to come forward under a nationwide initiative led by the Malaysian Chinese Association’s Public Services and Complaints Department.MCA chief Michael Chong said the party’s youth and women’s wings have also been roped in to collect data and provide aid to loan shark victims.“Throwing paint at homes is now considered lenient, as we are seeing loan sharks throwing petrol bombs. They are getting rampant with no regard for the law at all,” Chong told reporters at Wisma MCA in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.“Even the cost of these violent acts, including making the bombs, is charged to the borrowers’ account to further increase their debts,” he said.Chong revealed that a victim who appeared in a press conference last week had additional threats issued that very night, with petrol bombs thrown and paint splashed at his home.“They said it was because the victim held the press conference,” he said.Chong said he met Bukit Aman’s Commercial Crime Investigation Department and was told that violent cases would now be referred to the Criminal Investigation Department.“The police have requested public information and cooperation. Besides MCA Youth and Wanita MCA assisting in this, we are also working with NGOs, namely the Malaysia-crime-prevention-foundation" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="150987" data-entity-type="organization">Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF).“All cases will be assisted by our lawyers in all states. They will also provide legal advice to those who need it,” he said.MCA Youth deputy chief Mike Chong said the issue has got so out of hand with reports of a victim being forced to pay tens of thousands of ringgit for a loan of only 1,000 ringgit (US$241).“We will also teach victims how to write police reports because we were told that sometimes the reports did not reflect the severity of the situation,” he added.Further ReadingHe said some victims even had their police reports forwarded to them by loan sharks and questioned how this could happen.On this, Michael said police have pledged to investigate the matter from all angles.This story was first published by The Star