Son owes ah long money, but parents' neighbour targeted in arson attack

Chan (far left) and Lim showing their neighbour’s burnt vehicle during a press conference organised by Tebrau MP Jimmy Puah’s special officer Jalex Lee in Johor Baru on Monday (Feb 19).

JOHOR BARU: A local couple is having sleepless nights after a loan shark reportedly set fire to their neighbour’s car over their son’s debt.

Lim Lau Long, 62, said his next-door neighbour in Taman Desa Cemerlang here woke up to go to the bathroom at around 4am on Feb 2 and saw his car ablaze in their front porch.

His neighbour quickly put out the fire and found a note on the floor with Lim’s home address and his son’s name written on it.

“My neighbour called the telephone number on the note to tell the ah long that they had targeted the wrong house but the illegal moneylender said he purposely harassed my neighbour to put pressure on us,” Lim told a press conference organised by Tebrau MP Jimmy Puah’s office here on Monday (Feb 19).

“My wife and I feel helpless as we have not been in contact with our son Lim Vie Liang, 36, 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,” said Lim, who works as a welder.

He added that they stopped contacting their son because he used to borrow money from loan sharks for gambling, and Lim had helped to repay his debt of more than RM3,000.

“Since then, we stopped letting him 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 happened to their neighbour and offered to chip in to repair the vehicle.

The neighbour’s car that was set on fire by an illegal money lender.

“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 unwanted incidents from happening.

Meanwhile, Puah’s special officer Jalex Lee said he would assist the couple by following up with the police and request for more patrols in the area.