by Zainuddin Muhammad

MARANG, MALAYSIA - Many students may prefer flipping burgers at fast food outlets to earn pocket money during the school holidays, but in a village near here, there is nothing better or more lucrative than catching leeches.

With no uniforms to don or punch cards to deal with, these part-time leech hunters only need to bare their legs in shallow water behind their houses to attract the ever hungry leeches.

The best thing is, said 15-year-old Ubaidah Amir Shamsudin, he does not need to wait for a pay cheque as the leech business was strictly cash.

A few hours of work gets him about RM100 to RM150.

The Form Three student of Kampung Pengkalan Berangan said the only requirement was the will to withstand the itch after being bitten by a leech.
"It is a job hazard but nothing that a little ointment can't cure," said Ubaidah, who claims to catch about 180 leeches a day.

His friend Mohd Faizal Razali, 13, said the best time to catch leeches was after a downpour, when the little creatures would come out to attack human legs.

"Of course my legs are full of scars now. But it's okay since I don't plan to be a model.

"At a price of 60 sen each, I would dangle both my legs anytime because this is the best paying job ever," he said.

Fellow villager Tengku Sheril Tengku Afizal Ku Razali, 20, said leech catching had recently become a popular pastime for residents as there was a sudden demand for leeches from the cosmetics and alternative therapy industry.

The boys would sell their catch to a middleman in the village, who in turn, sells them to suppliers in the bigger towns.