Ageless is the true desire to serve the people

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Kapitan Datuk Janet Lau

Kapitan Datuk Janet Lau

ANYONE who knows Kapitan Datuk Janet Lau, the direct BN candidate for Pelawan, personally can tell you she is a simple and straightforward person.

A woman of few words and a seemingly detached countenance, she may appear ensconced in her own world. In reality, however, she is one of the most caring women in Sibu.

She started doing social and charitable work when she was still a university student in South Australia. Around that time, she came to know of a child from Sibu who needed emergency surgery to correct a congenital ventricular septal defect (hole in the heart). Even as a student back then, she volunteered to raise funds to help the family cover the surgery costs. That was her first case.

However, once she got started, she could not stop. On her return from Australia, Janet, now 69, found herself delving more and more into social and charitable work. Away from the public eye, she has been faithfully helping the less fortunate and needy for more than three decades.

To carry on the legacy of her husband, the late Datuk Robert Lau Hoi Chew, former Sibu member of parliament and a deputy minister, Janet made her foray into the political arena but was never in the forefront. Her main focus has been on social and charitable work — until recently when she was identified as a direct BN candidate for the Pelawan seat.

Appropriately, her impeccable track record as a dedicated social worker has served to pave the way for her entry into politics. That is why to her, her candidacy is a natural progression or more specifically, as she puts it, a calling from above to widen her scope of service and to continue the good work of her late husband.

 

I understand you have been involved in social and charitable work to help the marginalised and less fortunate. How did you first start? 

My first case was raising funds to cover the medical expenses of the child with an inborn heart defect from Sibu while I was in a student in Australia. It was one-off.  After graduating, I came back to Sibu. At first, I didn’t think of joining any service-oriented bodies like the Lions Club or the Jaycees. However, in the course of my work, I had the opportunity to meet a lot of people and found that some of them needed help badly.

In Australia, when I volunteered to help the child from Sibu, I thought it was just a one-off case, after which I could go back to my own life. But the more I got involved, the more I realised there were many destitute people who needed help. My heart went out to them and consequently, I found myself gravitating increasingly towards social and charitable causes.

Then I had my own family. The fact that I am so blessed — compared to so many in need of support and sustenance – has spurred me to help the marginalised and less fortunate in society. So I went about doing social and charitable work quietly until my late husband started getting involved in politics. As a wife, I stood by my husband in his political career — as the MP for Sibu – and in the process, had the opportunity to get a close-up look at the face of politics.

 

C_PC0012909So you followed your husband into politics?

Not really. Robert started getting interested in politics in 1982. Initially, I objected because it would mean I would have less of him. There was a time it became an issue for us. I tried to stop him but he wouldn’t budge. Finally, I gave in.  Since I could not beat him, I might as well join him.  As his wife, if I didn’t support him, who else would when he needed support?  So I put my career as an accountant on hold and gave him my full support. The thing was, after quitting my full-time job, I found myself even more involved in social and charitable works than ever before.

 

What kind of social and charitable works have you involved in?

All my adult life, I have been involved in all sorts of social charitable work. I headed many social clubs such as the Lioness and the Lions Clubs — and even uniformed groups like the Girl Guides. I was involved in the United Chinese Association of Sibu as its women’s chief for a while, and was also a member, and later chairman, of the Board of Visitors of Lau King Howe Hospital.

Moreover, I was the women’s chief of Sarawak Pan-Chen Lau’s Clan and the Confederation of Lau Clan, Malaysia, as well as the vice-president of the Young Men’s Christian Association of Sibu.

I am founder of some charitable bodies as well. I started the One-Stop-Crisis Centre (OSCC) of Sibu in 1993 and am still the chairman today. I am also one of the founders of the Association for Children with Special Needs, Sibu. Recently, our work in the association had expanded. We are in the midst of setting up the Association for Adults with Special Needs. I have been raising funds to build a Shelter Workshop and Training Home for ‘special’ adults. The project will cost RM13 million and the earth breaking ceremony has been held.  We expect it to materialise soon.

 

OSCC?  What kind of cases do you usually have at OSCC?   

The cases I have seen for the last 20 years were usually about family abuse and family violence.  I remember a case during one Chinese New Year’s Eve.  A wife was pushed by her husband and she knocked her head against the corner of a table and fainted. After coming to, she called me for help. For that particular Chinese New Year, I rushed back and forth between her house, the hospital and the police station because her husband refused to let anyone near her. We had to inform the police to get her out of the house to seek treatment in hospital.

 

Why were you not fielded in Datuk Robert Lau’s place for the Sibu by-election?

I think it was because I was grieving so much that I was deemed unfit to shoulder that responsibility. I was told later I literally could not stand up — that I kind of collapsed. In retrospect, I think the then SUPP leadership was right. I couldn’t have handled it. I was so much in grief that I just could not do anything. I gave up totally — I gave up living for about one year until my youngest son, Pierre, came to me and told me I had to learn to let go of ‘daddy’ and not keep holding on to the past, otherwise I would wither and die of grief.

He said he had lost his father and would not want to lose his mother as well. His words hit me hard. At that time, he just had his first born. After the talk with Pierre, I started picking myself up slowly, trying to carry on without Robert. There were times of weakness but on such occasions, I tried to be strong so that my family could move on. In the end, I managed although it’s still hard to stop the pain whenever there are flashbacks.

 

What is your fondest memory?

The whole 42 years we were married, they were memorable. Of course, I won’t pretend there were no problems. But strangely enough, when your loved ones passed on, all you could remember are the good things about them.

Despite having a character of being loud, unrefined and crude, Robert was actually a very loving husband. For most part of my younger life, I wore long hair.  I remember every time we came home late from some function, I would wash my hair. But I would be so tired that I could hardly raise my arm to blow dry my hair. Once Robert offered to do it for me. He took a chair, asked me to sit down in front of the tall mirror while he blew dry my hair. Since then, it had become a ‘tradition’ between us that he would blow dry my hair whenever we came home late from functions.

The tall mirror is still there. Every night, I still wash my hair but Robert is no longer around to blow it dry. Every night, when I sit in front of the tall mirror, it reminds me of Robert — that he is gone forever. It’s hard but that’s life and life has to go on.

 

Is Datuk Robert Lau the reason for your decision to stand as a candidate?

Yes and no. Robert’s parting words were that if only he had five more years, he could have done more for Sibu. I knew all this while that he was crude and loud and might have said the wrong things many times, but he had a heart for the people. He was never after money when he was in politics. He was like a boy who felt proud that he could do something for others — that he could make things better.

For example, there was this road without street lighting. The people living in the area informed him about it and he pooled his resources to light up the road. He felt good about it. And as his wife, I felt good too because what he did brought blessings to others.

And now, if I were elected, I would also help people the same way. I think he would agree that I contest, not for him or me, but for the people.

 

C_PC0012908There has been much criticism about your age — that at such an elderly age, you still want to be a candidate. Your response?

I am 69 and I don’t apologise for standing as a candidate at this age. I started serving the people a long time ago — even before some of the critics were born. I did what I did without thinking that one day, I would be a BN candidate. I did what I did because the need to do so came to me naturally and I couldn’t just dismiss it as if nothing had happened.

All my adult life, I have served without asking for reward or payment in return. Being a candidate for BN only means a wider circle of people to serve. So be it. Just as my involvement in social and charitable works has come naturally to me, so has my involvement in politics. I don’t turn it down just like I didn’t turn away those people who sought my help 30 years ago.

From the very beginning, I served without any ulterior motive. And even though I am now in forefront of politics, I still have no ulterior motive except that I am much older now. Is that wrong?

Perhaps, instead of being criticised for being elderly, I should be acknowledged for being so concerned about the needy and the marginalised at such an “old” age where I should retire and enjoy life. And just because I am a candidate now, suddenly, my age becomes a sin.

No, I’m neither going to apologise for my age nor the social and charitable works I have done way before I was offered the candidacy for Pelawan.

 

So what is your vision and mission for Pelawan if elected?

First, my slogan is “Pelawan is better with Janet around.” My macro vision is to work with other leaders such as Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh, Datuk Tiong Thai King and Dr Annuar Rapaee for the betterment of Sibu. I hope for more development in Sibu through SCORE (Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy).

I am in Team Adenan and will fully support Adenan to fight for Sarawak’s autonomy, consolidate the power of the people to back him up to fight for more rights and benefits.

Close to my heart is also to safeguard the freedom of religion to ensure that the peace and harmony enjoyed by Sarawakians will not be destroyed by extremism.

I hope to work with BN leaders to elevate Sibu to city status by the end of the year.

I will fight for tertiary education opportunities for the youths in Sibu.

I will work towards increasing employment as well business and economic opportunities to boost Sibu’s development. Fifthly, I will fight for better women’s representation in both the public and private sectors. And lastly, I hope to put Sibu on the Malaysian and global map through tourism.

As for my micro vision for Pelawan, it’s firstly to eradicate poverty in the area.

Secondly, I will strive to make more scholarships available to the youths in Pelawan.

Thirdly, I hope to see facilities and amenities in the area enhanced. Fourthly, I will work for the upgrading of infrastructure such as a better road network linking the various parts of Pelawan. Fifthly, I would like to see the setting up of more recreational venues for the residents. And finally, I will work towards boosting agricultural development in Pelawan, especially the Teku area.

Having said all that, single mothers, the underprivileged and marginalised and people with disabilities will, somehow, be always close to my heart. I will fight to give them more benefits such as increasing facilities and providing a friendlier environment and better social benefits.

Most important of all, I want to raise awareness concerning their needs and difficulties so that the whole of our society, regardless of race, religion and educational backgrounds, can work together to support these underprivileged groups.

Kapitan Datuk Janet Lau

Kapitan Datuk Janet Lau