By Andre Yeo

THERE are more loan sharks than terrorists in detention today.

At the end of September this year, 79 people were detained under the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act (CLTPA) for unlicensed money lending-related activities.

Senior Minister of State (Law and Home Affairs) Ho Peng Kee revealed this in an e-mail reply to questions by The New Paper.

The number is more than that of those detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA). Since 2001, fewer than 20 people have been held under the ISA, including those with links to terrorism.

The law is used sparingly and often on hardened criminals. The signal is clear: These loan sharks are members of organised crime syndicates, and the authorities are taking the fight to them.

The Government will be proposing tougher laws in Parliament on Monday to further cripple loan-shark syndicates.

The Act allows for the detention of criminals and supervision of people associated with secret societies, drug trafficking and other serious criminal activities.

Associate Professor Ho said in his e-mail that the Government has also cancelled passports of individuals found guilty of loan-sharking activities since 2005, when the measure first kicked in.

He said 32 passports were cancelled to prevent the holders from leaving Singapore to conduct their operations overseas.

He acknowledged the loan-shark problem was difficult to solve and harassment cases had gone up.

Former police officers said the last time so many people were detained for a specific offence was during the '60s, when gangs and secret societies were common.

Private investigator Lionel de Souza, 66, told The New Paper that the Act was used in the '60s to nab murderers, kidnappers and secret society members when witnesses were too afraid to testify against them.

Mr de Souza, who has more than 25 years' experience in the police force, was in the elite Special Investigation Section, and investigated murders and gangster activities.

The managing director of LJ Investigation & Consultancy Services said: "The top leaders were so ruthless, the underlings were fearful of them.

"They were so afraid to testify in court. They wanted to cooperate but were too afraid for their own safety andthat of their loved ones."

Back then, gang members coined a term for the law - "guo chap guo" (Hokkien for 55). It refers to the Act, which was introduced in 1955.

Mr Pee Kong Eng, now 48, was detained under the Act in 1981 for gangster activities.

He was arrested while collecting protection money from a shop owner in Ang Mo Kio.

He said in Mandarin: "The sentencing was done at night in a court and I remembered that it was scary.

Being charged under that section, I didn't know how long I would be in jail. I was only 19 at that time."

Mr Pee served four years in Changi Prison.

"When I first went in, one inmate told me that he had been there for nine years, charged under that same section. I thought that was the end of my freedom.

"But I found out later that some people do get released after four years, and I was quite relieved."

Mr Pee was later transferred to a detention centre in Seletar Camp, where he was allowed out to work as a construction worker during the day.

After one year, he was put on home probation for two years and had to be home every day from 7pm to 7am.

He said: "But I stayed out one night to drink and was caught. I was sentenced to a year's jail for that."

Mr Pee said he was in and out of prison after that for drug offences.

He was last sentenced to 22 years' jail in 1992 for drug trafficking and possession of controlled drugs.

He was released with remission in 2007 and is now in a Christian drug rehabilitation halfway house called Breakthrough Missions.

Former police officer Davy Chan, 62, said the Act should be used on loan sharks as their methods of harassment had gone overboard.

He said: "Too many people are suffering because of them. They deserve to be detained under the Act.

"They are a different kind of terrorist because through their harassment, they strike terror in others."

High-tech

In his e-mail, Prof Ho said advances in communications technology and the ways money can be transferred have led to loan-sharking syndicates and their operations becoming more extensive and sophisticated.

He said: "Loan-sharking syndicates now exhibit features of organised criminal groups and thrive on the profitability of the illicit business.

"They have a hierarchical membership, a professional administrative centre and a code of behaviour which require loyalty from members when apprehended."

He said members were also fearful to testify against the loan sharks and their bosses for fear of reprisals.

Prof Ho had some welcome news for HDB flat owners harassed by loan sharks who were after previous owners who owed them money.

He said the authorities have worked with HDB to tackle the problem of residents using their old addresses to borrow from loan sharks or giving false addresses.

Details will be released in Parliament on Monday.

This article was first published in The New Paper.