Kelana Jaya is a fun place to live in.
There are so many billboards over here (my dear panther once counted more than 40 along a short stretch of the LDP) that it’s fun to look at them and see what’s new.
A week ago one of them made the headlines – that guy who proposed to his girlfriend on a billboard. It’s still up there.
Few days later another huge billboard came up. Kelana Jaya MP, Loh Seng Kok. With that famous quote from Reverend Jesse Jackson,
I am not a perfect servant. I am a public servant doing my best against the odds. As I develop and serve, be patient: God is not finished with me yet.
- Rev. Jesse Jackson, 1984 Democratic National Convention Address
Now the first thing that came to my mind when I saw that poster was, what the heck is this guy putting such a huge poster of his face in one of the largest and most prominent billboards on the LDP? How can one be a Christian, put a quote from a Christian Reverend yet glorify his own person at the same time?
Besides, by the time the billboard went up, rumours were already rife that he was going to be dropped as a candidate for the coming GE.
Now as all of us know already, his huge face underwent a serious defacing. His entire face was blacked out with black paint.
And that was how it remained until today, as of writing.
But there’s a new development. Someone… or Loh himself has added a drape-over banner as huge as the size of the billboard — with his face again taking prominence — thanking the community for their support. Unfortunately it would seem that the foldover banner on the side where the original billboard with the defaced face is, seems to have been either accidentally (by wind etc) or deliberate folded over to expose the defacing.
Now while I don’t agree with Loh Seng Kok’s utter waste of funds and boastful self-glorification, no one deserves such a hugely public embarrassing. Why can’t politicians stop this acts of self-glorification, take that funds required to put up those billboards to help the community for goodness sake! One week’s rental of one of those billboards are already in the ranges of RM30,000 onwards!
On another note, it seems that the fight in Kelana Jaya (where I currently reside) is one between Lee Hwa Beng of MCA and………………… (yes I was stunned beyond words when I saw this news) – Loh Gwo Burne, the guy who videotaped Lingam on that infamous night. The first knee-jerk reaction was, “What the heck?!” to “Isn’t this guy in Shanghai? Is he going to uproot his life and career and come back to Malaysia without having much grassroots support or knowing what has been going on in the grassroots level for the past n years?”
I dunno. I feel that fielding Gwo Burne may be like handing over the constituency to BN on a silver platter. And I’m not even a BN supporter.
I am still voting for Gwo Burne.
I would be cautious against voting for a complete rookie in politics who’s been away from Malaysia for a long time.
Right now KJ looks like it’s gonna be a three cornered fight between:
1) Lee Hwa Beng of MCA who is BN and voting him in would contribute to giving BN 2/3rds majority but he seems the most capable of the 3 options
2) Loh Gwo Burne of PKR whom I would be very reluctant to vote
3) Billie Lim, an Independent whom I can’t stand his eternal optimism (had a couple of encounters with this guy before so I know what I am talking about).
Then again I am not a voter in this constituency, but I at the present moment, I live here. And the results would affect me. Sigh.
Loh Gwo Burne is nothing but his father, Loh Mui Fah’s puppet. It’s his father who is doing all the maneuvering behind the scenes. To begin with, Gwo Burne should never even have been in the picture. It started with Lingam and Mui Fah and a deal gone bad. In order to satisfy his thirst for revenge and get back at Lingam, Loh Mui Fah got his son to take the Lingam clip. No surprise there. Loh Mui Fah is well known for getting others to do his dirty work, and that includes using his own son.
Now that Gwo Burne has entered politics on his father’s behalf, what does Gwo Burne really know? Is Malaysia so seriously short of talented people that we need to even consider candidates like Gwo Burne to represent us? His Bahasa Malaysia is appalling. He can barely string together a sentence let alone give an unscripted, impromptu speech. His public speaking skills are sorely lacking, he is uncharismatic, dull and uninspiring. Gwo Burne is no politician. He might have a more lasting career teaming up with his father and going around secretly recording and videotaping others.
It must have been very frustrating for Loh Gwo Burne since 2001, when he started helping his grandfather with his court case. He met with all the most prominent lawyers, including the crooked Lingam. How could Gwo Burne have kept quiet all these years, seeing the corruption in the judicial system? I think if Gwo Burne was a real hero, he would have taken the bar exam in either UK, Malaysia or China (I did some research) and become a fully qualified lawyer and tried to fight the system. Not just sit in the background “assisting” with his grandfather’s case and not speaking up earlier about all the corruption he saw. Besides, for a guy who told the media that the reason why he didn’t become a lawyer was because he was disillusioned with the corruption that was taking place in Malaysia’s judiciary, why then did he even want to get involved with his grandfather’s legal matters?
Wow, interesting debates on Gwo Burne while I was away.
Anyway, all will be known tomorrow. I pray for the best for Kelana Jaya.