CHINESE OATH SETTLES CASE

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30453, 29 May 1964, Page 11

CHINESE OATH SETTLES CASE

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter— Copyright) KUALA LUMPUR, May 28. The flash of an axe and a salesman’s sworn oath has settled an 11,541-dollar civil court claim in Kuala Lumpur. The dispute was between an engineering firm and a tugboat company.

The owners of the tugs would not pay for machinery installed in their vessels because they claimed it had broken down in a year, despite a salesman’s seven-year guarantee. They agreed to withdraw their case from the High Court if the salesman would swear an oath he never gave the guarantee, at the same time chopping off the head of a white cockerel. Chinese Temple The ceremony was performed in a Chinese temple A table was placed before the main altar, and two posters stating the case—one in

Chinese, the other in English —were displayed. The salesman, Mr Lai Teck Leong, raised his right hand before the altar, and swore what he had said was the truth. He read out the words on the English poster, and signed it While a drum beat out a fast roll, he then took a chopper and cut off the head of the cockerel. It is believed in Malaya that a false oath taken in such circumstances would bring misfortune. After the ceremony, the tugboat company withdrew from the case, and a settlement was made.