In Need of A Quick Loan?

I'm sure you've seen the many ads offering fast loans around Kuala Lumpur. They're on the lamp posts, letter boxes, telephone booths, elevators... pokoknya merata-rata lah.

They're not loans offered by banking/finance institutions but by loan sharks or more "affectionately" known as Ah Longs.

They don't send nicely worded reminders if you default your first payment. No. They'd most probably splash red paint over your car or your house door. So if any of your friends or relatives keep an unusually large number of red paint tubs in their house, chances are, he is an Ah Long.

OK. Back to the ads. The ad below, caught my attention.

Allright. The name itself is a joke. IMMORTAL Finance? Hmm... maybe they'd be here longer than Lehmann Brothers.

As if resorting to a loan shark for a loan isn't humiliating enough, you're even asked to call them secara rahsia (discreetly).

Ya lor? Who the hell would want to boast about calling a loan shark?

Hmm... let me see... where is the place which best suit the secara rahsia criteria? Under the bed? In the closet? Smelly and dark store room?

I think the correct term should be "rahsia terjamin" and not "secara rahsia".