Member of Parliament Kelana Jaya, Y.B. Gwo-Burne Loh had a press conference last 2 February, 2012 explaining to the press the burning incident that was occurred last 28 January 2012, 4am at Shaz Bistro Blok 6, Desa Mentari, PJS 6/5C, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

The incident has caused a burning of 26 motorcycles and a taxi. During the press conference, the MP has donated some money to the victims  to reduce the burdens.

Press Release issued by Kelana Jaya MP on 9 January 2012 at Petaling Jaya

The Remarkable Anwar Ibrahim

This is not an article about Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy trial. But in case anyone is interested to hear my two-cents worth on the trial, I have two questions. How many people do we know who have actually been charged with sodomy? And do you think if Dato Seri Anwar will be charged if he were not an opposition leader?

My answers are 1 and NO.

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Press Statement by YB Gwo-Burne Loh Member Parliament Kelana Jaya on 17 November 2011, Kelana Jaya.

Call for DPM to revoke statement regarding Shahrizat’s involvement in NFC, and for the establishment of Sunshine Laws on Ministers and their family

In response to Umno’s Kinabatangan MP Datuk Bung Moktar Radin’s call yesterday in the Dewan Rakyat that those responsible for the NFC fiasco to resign. Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said that Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil is not directly involved in National Feedlot Corporation and therefore there is no need for her to resign over the matter.

This is a baffling, irresponsible and illogical response from a Deputy Prime Minister. Since according to rules set for the cabinet ministers, they are not allowed to be involved in business, therefore ministers in general will almost never be “directly” involved in any business venture. If the Deputy Prime Minister’s reasoning on Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil’s involvement with the NFC is to be accepted, it will entail that ministers will never be held responsible for any type of involvement in business as long as they do not get involved personally. There is no family member closer than one’s husband/wife and children, to exclude the possibility of abuse of power in a case involving a minister’s direct family is extremely irresponsible and flies in the face of the people’s call to fight corruption in our Country. NFC includes Shahrizat’s husband Mohamad Salleh Ismail, her children Wan Shahimur Izran (27), Wan Shahimur Izmir (31) and Wan Izzana Fatimah (25).  I would like to stress that family involvement give rise to the perception of abuse of powers by the ministers, whereby ministers can get away easily by appointing their babies.

Over the years there have been many accusations leveled against the families of cabinet ministers regarding their involvement in government contracts and projects. There is much talk among the public about ministers and their family,Tun Ling Liong sik and his children, Tun Mahathir and his children, Tun Badawi and Khairy Jamaludin, Datuk Seri Muhyiddin Yassin and son-in-law for the biometric project for foreign workers (note: Mahyuddin is in the Cabinet Committee for Foreign Workers). And there is wide spread belief in the public that these children and family members of ministers have become multi-millionaires. Datuk Seri Shahrizat’s and her family’s involvement in Government money is but one of numerous such scandals. Constant scandals involving ministers and their family members are seriously eroding the people’s confidence in our national institutions, destroying the imagine of the Malaysian Government, and are bane to foreign investment into our country.

Transparency and accountability has to be enforced and seen to be enforced by our government. Ministers taking powerful positions with great opportunities to abuse their powers must be open to scrutiny and held accountable by the public. Sunshine laws and policies must be adopted whereby ministers must declare not only their own assets and interest, but also that of their family members’ assets and their involvement with public projects, be it direct or indirect.

In the interest of public accountability I therefore make the call to our Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, to revoke his statement that Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil is not directly involved in National Feedlot Corporation and therefore need not be accountable. I also call for the our Prime Minister Dato Seri Najib Razak and the Government to establish Sunshine Laws and policy where by ministers and their families declare their assets and interest in public projects and contracts.

KENYATAAN MEDIA
1 NOVEMBER 2011

KENYATAAN MENTERI TERHADAP LAPORAN KETUA AUDIT NEGARA

Ahli Parlimen Kelana Jaya, Gwo-Burne Loh memuji tindakan Ketua Audit Negara dalam mengeluarkan laporan audit yang telah membuka mata semua pihak setiap tahun.

Namun begitu, saya keliru  dengan tindakan beberapa Menteri yang telah menafikan beberapa fakta dalam Laporan Audit Negara. Antaranya adalah Laporan Audit Negara bahawa projek National Feedlot Centre tidak mencapai sasaran untuk menternak 8000 ekor lembu menjelang 2010. Namun begitu,  Menteri Pertanian dan Industri Asas Tani Datuk Seri Noh Omar berkeras mengatakan sasaran projek National Feedlot Centre untuk menternak 8000 ekor lembu adalah satu kejayaan kerana sebanyak 8016 ekor lembu telah diimport sekaligus melebihi sasaran untuk menternak 8000 ekor lembu menjelang 2010. Ini bermakna, sesiapa sahaja akan dapat mencapai sasaran ini dengan hanya mengimport lembu. Jadi saya tertanya-tanya adakah sasaran untuk mencapai 60000 ekor lembu menjelang 2015 juga akan dicapai menggunakan lembu import?
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KENYATAAN MEDIA
1 NOVEMBER 2011

SOKONGAN KEPADA RANCANGAN KONGRES KESATUAN SEKERJA MALAYSIA (MTUC) UNTUK BERPIKET

Ahli Parlimen Kelana Jaya, Gwo-Burne Loh memuji tindakan Kongres Kesatuan Sekerja Malaysia (MTUC) yang akan berpiket untuk menentang pindaan Rang Undang-undang Kerja (Pindaan) 2011. Tindakan proaktif ini amat wajar sebagai satu usaha untuk melindungi kebajikan dan hak pekerja yang merupakan objektif utama MTUC.

Namun begitu, saya amat kecewa dengan kenyataan Menteri Sumber Manusia Datuk Seri S Subramaniam yang mendakwa bahawa piket yang akan dijalankan oleh MTUC adalah tidak sah kerana isu tersebut adalah isu dasar kerajaan dan bukannya isu yang berkaitan perusahaan. Saya berpendapat bahawa MTUC wajar untuk memberikan pandangan mereka terhadap apa-apa isu yang berkaitan kebajikan dan hak pekerja.
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On 8th May, 2011, my office received numerous complains on a notice stating demolishing work of a metal brigde beside NPE Highway. On 14th May, residents from PJS 2, 3, 5, 7, Desa Mentari, Desa Ria and Temple Kuil Sri Gengai Amman devotees held a protest and a Memorandum was handed to me to take up the matter. As this causes tremendous extra burden to their day to day livelihood from going to school to going to work, going for prayers at the Temple at the other side of the bridge. Without the bridge commuters in the area would have to travel an additional 7-10km and will have to pay toll. Wasting precious fuel, money and time. I strongly urge all relevant parties to treat this matter with utmost urgency. We feel very strongly that a dialogue should have been done prior to the posting of notice of demolition. In 2008 there were also attempts to demolish the bridge, at the time I chaired the meeting at MBPJ with the stake holders regarding this matter. The conclusion from the meeting was that in light of any safety concerns; NPE, developers in the area and MBPJ will make the necessary arrangements for the construction of a new bridge in place of the current bridge.  We also therefore feel extremely disappointed and perplexed that the decision makers failed to consult our office and the residents present at the meeting in 2008 before making any decision. But in light of the latest development on the issue, we applaud MBPJ’s decision to suspend the demolition of the said bridge. I strongly urge all parties to ensure that the interest of the residents in the area be placed above all else.

Press Statement by Kelana Jaya Member of Parliament on 15 February 2011 at Kelana Jaya :

The Art of taking criticism: A Malaysian Case Study

In any given time and in any given nation, there are those who clamor to deliver praise to those in power. And then there are those who are in love with their own voices who clamor to deliver praise upon themselves. Left to their own devices the above mentioned create a delusion (to themselves
and whoever they can influence) of an existence in heavenly bliss. But unfortunately (for the above mentioned), they are (usually) not the only people around, and every now and then someone (not from the above mentioned) decides to say it as it is. Which every so often threaten to shatter the delusion
of heavenly bliss for those of the above mentioned. For the above mentioned, this simply will not do! And since in these cases the matter that threatens to shatter the above mentioned heavenly bliss is the truth and therefore extremely difficult to argue with using reason and logic, the above mentioned
will resort to “well” thought out arguments like “Mind your own business! Sod off!”, “You’re not my Dad! I don’t have to listen to you!”, “Oh ya? And you’re stupid and ugly!” and of course the brand new retort of “He is not a president or a former PM. Media should not pay attention to this kind of news”

Let us pause and think about that for a moment.

……….

I guess for some people (especially the one about you not being the President or Prime Minister), this sort of retort is the equivalent of the popular military tactic known as “Shock and Awe”. Well when I heard of the latest retort of “He is not a president or a former PM. Media should not pay attention to
this kind of news” I was certainly shocked and awed… by the sheer lack of logic. I suppose one could then accuse me of not being the President or Prime minister and therefore have no right to have anyone pay attention to my views. I suppose I could fight fire with fire and resort arguments such as “Mind
your own business! Sod off!”, “You’re not my Dad! I don’t have to listen to you!” , “Oh ya? And you’re stupid and ugly!” and again the brand new “You’re not a president or a former PM. We should not pay attention to this kind of news/views” but I’m not going to. Instead I will stake my claim to the right to comment on “Hey! Since when did you have to be President or Prime Minister to have your views paid attention to?”

Since most of us are not god, and therefore have a tendency to make mistakes. It should be deemed fortunate if there are those around us who are willing to step forward to inform us about the mistakes that we are making. By listening and paying heed to these constructive criticisms, advice and even
scolding will very often lead us back to the correct path and help us do the right thing. When the captain of the Titanic remarked “You’re not a president or a former PM. We should not pay attention to this kind of view” towards the person pointing out to him about the iceberg the Titanic appeared to be
heading towards, it resulted in all sorts of problems not only for the Captain, but also the thousands of passengers of the Titanic. I mean let us be practical here, what are the chances of the President or Prime Minister being there every time a ship is headed towards an iceberg? Wouldn’t iceberg avoidance
therefore be almost impossible?

Therefore we should be thankful that although most people are not Presidents and Prime Ministers, but they are those who care enough about us that they tell us our mistakes. Care enough about us to tell us where we went wrong in hope that we can change our course and avoid our icebergs.

There is a Chinese saying, which roughly translates to “those who criticize are those who care”. And those who are unaffected by our mistakes (i.e. former US Ambassadors to Malaysia towards the declining fortunes of Malaysia) but take the time to criticize constructively about our errors, therefore really care a lot. Wisdom dictates that such persons should be treasured. But I guess a person who can come up with awe inspiring arguments such as “He is not a president or a former PM. Media should not pay attention to this kind of news,” would not have wisdom rated as their most shining quality.

It is easy to disregard someone’s criticism on the basis that he/she is not the President or Prime Minister. But easy does not equal right. Ask friends who left our homeland for pastors aboard their reason for leaving, I have a feeling a significant percentage will cite reasons similar to those highlighted by the former Ambassador.

But regardless whether one agrees with the picture painted by the once US Ambassador to Malaysia. I suspect the argument that “He is not a president or a former PM. Media should not pay attention to this kind of news,” does Shock and Awe on more than one level. Firstly the argument does not appear
to offer any form of logical alternative view on the matter being discussed. And more significantly since the argument was presently by a Deputy Prime Minister, by the deputy prime minister’s own line of reasoning, therefore his own comments should also be ignored, since a Prime Minister/President does
not a deputy prime minister make (mistake here). So dear Deputy prime minister, on this occasion please forgive me for not being able to resist the urge to use the argument “You are not a president or a former PM. The people/media should not pay attention to this kind of view/news”. But then who knows, maybe “It was his views, irrational accusations. He is here still but he’s telling lies. Perhaps he is a good friend of Barisan, of Najib. So, he was spinning up stories,”. Hey you never know right?

Gwo-Burne Loh
Concerned citizen and Member of Parliament for Kelana Jaya, Not President or Prime Minister

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