No plans to criminalise borrowing from loansharks, says MHA

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http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC121017-0000025/No-plans-to-criminalise-borrowing,-says-MHA

Although the number of loan sharking complaints fell 21 per cent in the first half of this year, Members of Parliament (MPs) yesterday pressed the Home Affairs Ministry to do more, such as criminalising borrowing from loan sharks.

Responding to MP Lee Bee Wah's (Nee Soon GRC) account of one of her residents being harassed for the past decade because his neighbour repeatedly borrows from loan sharks, Second Home Affairs Minister S Iswaran said there are "not plans, at this juncture, to criminalise borrowing", because borrowers' circumstances varied, thus making it difficult to use a common approach to all.

"Rather, our focus is on preventive education, enforcement and community engagement to tackle the issue," said Mr Iswaran, who is also Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Second Trade and Industry Minister.

Despite the "overall improvement", he stressed that the fight against the loan sharking scourge is "far from over", as they are resorting to new methods to lure victims, such as advertising their services through email blasts and SMS.