Singapore Votes
General Election 2011
Vote 2011 Singapore
The poker sessions took place on the school grounds after class, or while they were waiting for teachers to start lessons.
"At first, we bet 10 and 20 cents. Then the stakes rose to $1, $5 and $10. Soon, it was $50 to show a hand. Eventually, it hit $100," said Zac.
He ended up losing "quite often", but never thought of stopping.
"I was just desperate to win back what I had lost and clear my debt."
His losses snowballed and hit $1,300 last June.
Then his classmate started pressing him for payment.
Zac said: "He would call me every half an hour to ask when I was returning the money."
Once, the classmate even confronted him near the school hall and grabbed him by the throat.
"He told me not to mess around with him as he knew gangsters," he recalled.
Worried, Zac started avoiding his classmate, skipping school and even missing his Sec 5 Maths preliminary examination "because other classmates said he was looking for me, and I couldn't pay up".Hounded to honour the loss, he then signed an IOU with the classmate in June.
He also agreed to the interest and other terms - $7 for every day he was unable to pay off the amount, in addition to $45 for every fortnight that the sum was outstanding.
Last July, Zac claimed the classmate told him to sign up for a mobile plan and pay the expenses. He did as he was told.
To settle his debts, he also borrowed money from friends and began juggling two part-time jobs - pulling the early shift at a factory and working till 2am as a hotel banquet waiter.
Zac estimated that he has handed over $5,000 to the classmate so far.
Now, his family, in an attempt to get the money back, has made a police report against that classmate.ORIGINAL SOURCE
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