Gwo Burne: Father did not pay for seat Soon Li Tsin | Mar 28
New Kelana Jaya MP Loh Gwo Burne has dismissed rumours that his father
had paid a sum of money to PKR in order to secure his parliamentary seat during
the 12th general election.
In an interview with Malaysiakini, the 34 year-old business consultant
laughed and labelled the claim involving his father, Loh Mui Fah, as nonsense.
Gwo Burne also revealed he decided not to practice law in Malaysia after
filming the scandalous VK Lingam video clip despite having pursued his law
degree in University of Hull, United Kingdom and a masters in the China
University of Political Science and Law.
Candidly labelled a video maker after the scandal, Gwo Burne said he has no
plans to be involved in politics until a Sin Chew journalist asked him what was
he going to do with his fame.
Below are excerpts of his interview with Malaysiakini which has been edited
for clarity.
You were easily the most controversial and mysterious candidate in the 12th
general election. How do you feel about that?
Being in the unique position, I think there are advantages and disadvantages.
I have been judged unfairly by some reporters. On the other hand, unlike other
candidates I also got a lot of exposure from the mainstream media. Negative
media is better than no media (laughs).
How did you face criticisms that anybody could have won in Kelana Jaya this
elections?
The fact is before the elections, I was told that the Kelana Jaya seat was a
hot potato. Nobody wanted to contest there because they thought Lee Hwa Beng
was too great a mountain to climb. But after the elections, people said, "He
won, how (can this happen)?" So after the dust has settled down, you can say
whatever you want.
Basically (before the elections) everybody told me that I was going to lose
(laughs). So I said, "Really? I dont know but I think Ive got a chance." I
wasnt surprised. When I came in, I went to the ground and spoke to people and
we already had 40 per cent of the support from the community before we did
anything. I believed we needed to gain another 15 to 20 per cent to be safe. If
I thought I had no chance of winning, why would I be doing this in the first
place? (Laughs)
How did this candidacy come about? Are you a PKR member?
Obviously I am a PKR member. This was done one week before the elections.
There was a chain of events. Running for elections wasnt really on my mind
but it actually started after a Sin Chew reporter asked me the question, "Now
that you are popular what are you going to do?" What I intended to do at that
time after the royal commission was [...] everybody told me that I was in
danger. I wanted to leave after this but is that what (Im) suppose to do?
But when I met Anwar he asked why dont I join the (party and contest in the)
election? That became something more substantial as opposed to going back home
and hide under my shell. I told Anwar that if you think we can contribute, then
I am at your service. He said, "I think you can" so the next was to look at our
areas and he asked, "Why dont you go to Kelana Jaya?" Then I thought yeah, we
can do this.
There are rumours that you father paid a huge sum of money to PKR to secure
your seat. Is that true?
No (laughs). I dont even know where that came from. Thats nonsense.
What have you been doing since March 8 until now?
We went around quite a bit thanking people and (I attended) some party
meetings with official bodies and lots of interviews. I went back (to China),
terminated my lease, packed all my stuff and got back. I anticipate getting a
lot busier come April or May. So I wanted to settle everything before
Parliament starts.
What specifically have you done for the constituency since being voted in?
What are the main needs in the short- and medium-term?
Up till now, we have been trying to do some stuff but weve achieved
absolutely nothing yet. For example in Desaria, people have been complaining
about a U turn and Ive been trying to talk to some people to do something
about it because it is very dangerous.
Eventually we met up with the MPSJ (Subang Jaya Municipal Council) people but
after a while we found that it wasnt under their area but MBPJs (Petaling
Jaya City Council). So there are a lot of ways and were still learning the
ropes to get relevant bodies to get involved.
Actually were trying to talk to the residents and police about it. In my
constituency, the crime rate is a real thorny issue. I think crimes can be
reduced with more efficient policing. So were trying to talk to the local
enforcement and find the best way to move forward. The security issue can be
solved within a short period.
Another issue is traffic. It is not something that you can deal with within
Kelana Jaya itself but the whole Klang Valley. Unless we change our policy and
shift towards an efficient public transport system, we cannot solve the
transport problem. It will take a lot of effort and willingness from the
executive.
Do you think it is problem that you have absolutely no experience in handling
such matters?
Well, what sort of experience do you need to raise issues? Maybe the problem
is finding the right people to raise the issue to. In that sense it take you
one or two days to know exactly which area this place is under. Of course our
party itself is rather new. So many of us are learning the ropes and trying to
get out to know exactly what to do so that would take a bit of time.
How are you coordinating with the Hannah Yeoh (Subang Jaya) and Nik Nazmi Nik
Ahmad (Seri Setia) representatives and state government?
Well, with Hannah for example, a lot of people go to her with many issues.
Some of them are state issues while some are federal issues. When she gets a
federal issue it is obviously beyond her scope so she comes to me. Frankly all
the issues Ive been getting are state issues (laughs). So I do get to work
closely with Hannah and Nik Nazmi.
Are you setting up a service centre soon?
Yes, were actually in the process. Somebody found a place for us but we
discovered after looking at it yesterday that, "What is Chew Mei Funs office
doing here?" (Laughs). If Im not mistaken, this is not within my territory. So
well sort it out in a couple of weeks.
I decided that we want it near Sunway because one of the two state
assemblypersons service centre is on two sides of the LDP (Damansara-Puchong
Highway) one is in Seri Setia and the other in Subang. So Sunway would be in
between both of them. It would be convenient for both fo them to find me.
What kind of services will you be offering at your service centre?
I would like to say I just want to offer services as a member of Parliament
but in reality people would come with an array of issues so we try to do our
best even if its a personal thing. If its a state issue, we cannot ignore it
as well. Well try our best to do it, if we cannot then well just have to bug
Nik and Hannah.
How are you going to brush up your knowledge on your constituency?
Were in the process of doing that. We plan to set up machineries where we
have one person in each area who will work for the party or volunteer because
we dont have any money (laughs). I hope to see them constantly, the person
will bring me around. That way we hope to go to every nook and corner. If we
get enough of these machineries going, I will know Kelana Jaya at the back of
my hand.
What kind of issues will you be raising in Parliament?
Of course I will raise the five points raised by our party leader Dr Wan
Azizah Wan Ismail.
Personally, the judiciary is one of my main agendas because we have seen what
is wrong with our judiciary. There are other issues like economic development.
For me the national car policy is a big issue because I believe it is the cause
of our traffic problems today. People want to support the national car policy
and the public transportation system was made inefficient which leads to all
these traffic problems and the tolls. I think everything is related.
So it is very hard to say well focus on one thing but its related other
things. The judiciary is related to corruption and when you talk about
corruption then you wonder what our Anti-Corruption Agency is doing. But the
ACA is under the control of the executive so what is the executive doing? What
is their agenda?
Also, if the government is not doing a proper job, what is the media doing?
Why isnt the media exposing all this? So it boils down to press freedom in the
end.
Have you started Bahasa Malaysia lessons yet?
I think Im starting tomorrow. I can understand Malay, Im just not very good
at it.
I can go the stall and buy stuff, order food in a mamak. I can actually
converse and understand basic Malay. But if youre asking me to give speeches,
thats totally different.
Right now its seriously touch and go so I need to get my Bahasa up to speed.
Hopefully in a months time I can at least manage (the language). My plan it
to get somebody to teach me and another person to follow me around and talk to
people with me. So hopefully that would push me along much faster. I think
anybody can do basic Malay but doing the oratory stuff in Parliament or on
stage is the problem.
Have you seen how Parliament debates work? Do you think you can emulate them
and speak BM as fluently?
Yes but the parliament debates Ive seen, I dont want to emulate because
they are shouting profanities. Whenever I look at the parliament debates, they
are shouting nonsense and the language used is not befitting of a peoples
representative.
Can you give directions from the Kelana Jaya LRT station to SS18 in Subang
Jaya?
Directions? Oh, Im very bad at that (laughs). One of the problems with me is
that I never remember the name of the roads. You go down the LDP, before you
reach the toll you take a U turn to get to the other side of the LDP. Turn into
Sunway when you see Sunway Pyramid on your left and go straight down. After how
many flyovers then youre at SS18 already, right? You just turn in left or
right. (Laughs)
Would you declare your assets for the sake of transparency to prove you are
clean and corrupt-free?
I can declare my assets right now. I actually do not own any fixed assets. So
I have nothing to declare (laughs).
Do you have any liabilities?
No. I have nothing. No assets and no liabilites (laughs).
How did the transition happen - from studying for your masters in China to
doing business consultancy work in a chemical company?
Actually after I got back from my masters degree I was considering going into
law. Not long after that I took the video. Call me a romantic but I believe in
certain ideologies. I mean honestly if you were a law student and just
graduated, would you see what Ive seen and heard, would you still want to go
into law?
So you decided not to practice law because of the incident which you filmed?
Its not like I didnt want to practice but I didnt want to practice in this
environment.
Does this mean you knew what you were filming at that time?
Of course. When it started out, I was trying to take picture of the vase. But
I decided to continue because I knew what was going on. I did not fully follow
all the things they were talking about. At that time I did not know who Tengku
Adnan (Tengku Mansor) really was. I couldnt follow some of the conversation.
Given this environment, you can have all the best lawyers in the world but
you will lose the case simply because the case has been fixed. So whats the
point? For me that was the rule of the game in Malaysia and I dont subscribe
to this game. I would rather play different rules, so no, not here.
Do you have a message to those who have criticised you and thought you should
have lost in the elections?
(Laughs) Well different people have different opinions. So there are people
who like me and those who do not. Fortunately, more people like me than not so
here I am. Since Im here, regardless of criticisms or just opinions, that is
immaterial right now because it is me sitting in the parliamentary seat for
this area at this point.
So I would do my best to represent everybody whether they support me or not,
whether they like me or not. Even if a person came to me and said, "I hate you,
I despise you, I did not support you, I will never support you but I have
problem and I need you to solve it" I will still do it because thats my duty.
Will you be giving up your seat for anybody?
Right after the elections we had a gathering among the candidates at Anwars
house and he declared he would not be taking his seat from his wife or
daughter.
So I thought that would be a real pity because it would be much more
interesting with Anwar in Parliament. Actually, I told him that if required, he
can have my seat but he said no (laughs). He thinks that were credible
candidates and he would not want to take the seat from his own party members.
Do you intend to run for a second term?
At this point we will have to see how things go. I have to try to do a job, I
believe I can do it but if people say Im ineffective and Im just not good at
this then I would not want to be hogging the seat for personal reason. If
theres somebody else better at this and is more effective, I would simply move
aside but I dont intend to quit halfway through my term. People who voted me
expect me to do my job for that duration of time and I wouldnt want to let
them down.
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