The cabinet has rejected the police's proposal to prosecute those who borrow from Ah Long (loan sharks) according to Housing and Local Government Minister Ong Ka Ting.

The NST reported that the cabinet shot down the proposal on Wednesday because police and other enforcement agencies should focus on enforcing laws to deal with illegal moneylenders who employ high-handed tactics to recover debts from borrowers.

"The cabinet has shot down the proposal. It feels that under the current law, the police are tasked to enforce and take action against loan sharks," he was reported as saying after attending a dinner for ex-Chinese servicemen last night.

On Tuesday, Federal Commercial Crime director Ramli Yusuf submitted a proposal to the government to draft a new law allowing for borrowers to be prosecuted.

He hoped that such a law would deter people from borrowing from loan sharks and instead compel them to go to licensed moneylenders

More problems

Ong elaborated that the government felt that prosecuting borrowers could lead to more problems.

"If they are forced into a corner, they will feel more pressured and might react in more disastrous ways," he said.

He pointed out that the cabinet had appointed Internal Security deputy ministers Fu Ah Kiow and Mohd Johari Baharum as chairmen of a committee tasked to draw up an awareness campaign on the menace of loan sharks.

Ong added that the ministry was also looking into amending the Moneylenders Act 2001 to give police more power to act against loan sharks.

There were mixed reactions when the idea was mooted on Tuesday.

MCA Public Complaints and Services Department head Michael Chong supported the police proposal to penalise people who borrow from Ah Longs.

"This is the best way to teach the public a lesson. They know it is illegal to borrow money from loan sharks but they still do it," he was quoted as saying in the Star .

However, Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan shot down the idea, saying that the priority in combatting loans sharks is to educate the masses and not prosecute.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng also ticked off the police for misplacing its priorities by going after borrowers of Ah Longs instead of fighting crime on the streets.