Compiled by C. ARUNO and BENJAMIN LEE
THE biggest lesson a man learnt in his career as an ah long (illegal moneylender) was to never borrow money from a loan shark like himself, reported Sin Chew Daily.
“Being an ah long all this time, the biggest impact on me is that I must educate my children, family members and friends to never ask for funds from a loan shark under any circumstances!” the loan shark, known only as Ah Hua, said.
Even so, Ah Hua, who has been in the industry for more than 10 years, does not regret his career and said he would become a loan shark again if given the choice.
He told the daily that coming from a broken family, lacking guidance and being kicked out of school at a young age meant that there were not many appealing career prospects for someone like him.
However, Ah Hua urged young ones to leave the industry and take on a more legitimate career.
He said he has seen the industry change the people around him, with many transforming into much more violent versions of themselves.
“Once you have earned enough, just leave,” he added.
> More than 100 cats from an illegal cat meat factory were culled after local authorities in China’s Foshan city feared their release would cause a disease outbreak, Sin Chew Daily also reported.
A video showing dozens of cats in cages being drowned in a lake went viral on social media.
As the bureau had no way of confirming the cats’ origins, they were forced to cull them as prescribed by law to prevent any possible disease outbreak.
The bureau’s actions were heavily criticised online, with many saying that drowning the cats was cruel.
“The cats must have thought that you were angels arriving to save them. Little did they know that you would be their killers,” one person posted.
The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a, it denotes a separate news item.
