In Johor, saleswoman’s car and house torched by loan sharks after previous tenant
JOHOR BARU, March 1 — A 22-year-old saleswoman and her family has been living in fear after a car and her family house in Taman Johor Jaya here were torched in two incidents last month.
The two acts are believed to be a case of mistaken identity over a debt owed to loan sharks by a previous tenant.
The victim, known only as Ling Ling, said that her family received the first threat at about 11pm on February 1 when a Proton Persona car belonging to a family member was set on fire.
“The second incident happened in front of our house last Tuesday where fire bombs were thrown into the gate, but my father managed to put out the fire after hearing the neighbour’s screams.
“In both incidents, parts of the car and the front section of the house were damaged,” she said in a press conference at the Johor Jaya assemblyman’s service centre here today.
Present to assist Ling Ling was Johor Jaya assemblyman Liow Cai Tung.
During the second incident, Ling Ling was at a restaurant in Permas Jaya at 4.54am when she received a closed-circuit television (CCTV) notification from her house due to a fire.
“I managed to contact my father to look into the situation before he managed to put out the fire,” she said.
During a check on the CCTV footage, Ling Ling said she noticed three individuals throwing two objects inside the front of her house causing a fire before they fled in a white Perodua Myvi car.
“I am thankful that the fire did not spread further into the house and all my family members, including neighbours, were safe,” she said.
Ling Ling, who later lodged a police report after the second incident on the same day, said she then decided to check on her predicament on Facebook by searching based on her family house address.
She found that there was indeed a Facebook post where a copy of a MyKad belonging to a man named Khoo Teng Khoon was uploaded together with her family house address.
“The man named Khoo was later identified as a former tenant in my family home and had allegedly owed an illegal money lender,” she said, adding that the attackers had wrongly threatened her family despite not having any ties to Khoo.
Ling Ling said her family, who have stayed in the same house for the past 10 years, denied having anything to do with the unpaid money that was loaned by Khoo.
“The situation has caused my family members to be concerned about their safety.
“Besides my family members, the neighbours are also worried about their safety,” she said.
Meanwhile, Liow hopes that the authorities will take immediate action before the suspects behave in a more violent manner.
