Woman ‘selling’ herself to pay off debts

A 50-YEAR-OLD woman is “selling” herself for RM150,000 to settle debts she ran up while operating a coffee shop in Singapore.

Nanyang Siang Pau reported that the woman – a Malaysian living in Singapore – said she was willing to go with anyone who could pay off her debts amounting to more than S$60,000 (RM146,000).

“I can be his employee, nurse, live-in friend, maid or wife,” said the divorcee, who has two daughters living in Malaysia.

To advertise herself, the divorcee even handed a two-page letter to the media, hoping to find a “buyer”.

The woman, who declined to be named, said she had lost all her money in the coffee shop venture which she had partnered with some friends four years ago.

She claimed that the economic crisis last year had badly affected her business, forcing her to borrow heavily in an effort to save the shop, which eventually failed.

Now, the woman is more than S$60,000 in debt, mostly owed to her relatives, friends and suppliers.

“At the end of every month, I would receive over 10 telephone calls demanding that I repay my debt.

“I don’t even have money to pay for the room I’m renting now. I have no choice but to offer myself,” she said, adding that she did not want to “trouble” her daughters who were married and had their own families.

> The daily also reported that a 14-year-old girl and her mother had been arrested for prostitution in a raid in Sibu, Sarawak, on Sunday.

The teenager, who charged RM80 for her services, is said to have been following in her 38-year-old mother’s “footsteps” in the flesh trade for the past three years.

The two were among a group of women loitering at some shoplots when they were picked up by the police and had been staying in a RM15 room at budget hotel nearby.