Published: Wednesday October 10, 2012 MYT 6:59:00 PM
Updated: Wednesday October 10, 2012 MYT 9:19:09 PM
Lorry driver offers kidney for sale to get loan sharks off his back
By REGINA LEE
KUALA LUMPUR: A man has offered to sell one of his kidneys for RM50,000 to settle his gambling debts even though he has been told it is illegal.
The 45-year-old lorry driver from Ampang, who wanted to be known only as Phuah, said his wife had left him and he had been sacked from his job as lorry driver.
With nowhere to turn, Phuah walked into MCA Public Services and Complaints Department chief Datuk Seri Michael Chong's office on Wednesday as a last resort.
“I keep on telling him that it is illegal and no doctor in Malaysia will perform this surgery for him.
“If he tries going overseas to do it, the surgeon might even end up taking two kidneys or other organs,” Chong said, still expressing disbelief over audacity of the request.
The man told him he needed the money to pay off a RM5,000 debt incurred after spell of gambling on the Internet.
He's going to use the rest of the money to start a business.
He had already lost RM30,000 earlier in July when he got carried away playing roulette on the Internet and he had used his life's savings and borrowings from friends and family to settle that debt.
“What choice do I have?” asked Phuah at a press conference in Chong's office on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Chong urged the Government to tighten laws, ensuring that loan sharks do not unfairly target the families of the defaulters.
“I hope the loan sharks get whipping punishment. Jail the borrowers too. It breaks my heart to see the families and defaulters' children crying in my office because they are so scared of the Ah Long.
“The loan sharks are getting more brazen by the day now that they cannot be arrested under the Emergency Ordinance,” he said.
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