EX-FOOTBALLER AIMS TO SCORE IN KETARI
Lau: Voters know my strength and commitment to them
IF Datuk Lau Hoi Keong, 49, had made the cut as a member of Malaysia’s Barcelona 1992 Olympic project team, he might have carved a career in football and gone into coaching.
However, for Lau, who was representing Selangor, life took a different turn due to the age limit imposed on the team.
The Olympic competition was for Under-23s and only those born after August 1969 qualified to be in the team.
Born on May 13, 1969, Lau did not meet the requirement.
He went on to complete his degree before joining Gerakan Youth.
He has been entrusted by the party to regain the Ketari state seat from the opposition in the 14th General Election (GE14).
Lau, who is deputy chairman of the Malaysian Chinese Football Association, said his career might have been different if he had joined the Olympic project team, but he had no regrets.
“I remember training with Yap Wai Loon and Chee Wan Hoe (national footballers), as well as others during a session when coach Chow Kwai Lam (then national coach) pulled me aside and told me that I was over the age limit by three months... So I would not get a chance to play.
“Sensing that it was going to be tough for me to progress in football if I did not make it to the team, I quit and furthered my studies at Universiti Malaya.
“I later joined politics and that decision has brought me here today (contesting in GE14).”
He used to represent Selangor in competitions.
Born in Kerling Estate, Selangor, Lau, who can converse in Tamil, said he learnt the language from friends who lived in the estate and some teachers also helped him master the language in school.
He said mixing with the estate community enabled him to speak three languages — Bahasa Melayu, English and Tamil — besides Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka and Hokkien, which was an advantage at his meet-the-people programmes and GE14 campaigns in the Ketari constituency here.
The father of two said he had been working in Ketari since 2016 after he was named the coordinator and had a strong team helping him on the ground.
“Voters know my strength and commitment to them... They have been lost over the last five years as the opposition representative did not do his job.
“I can assure the people that I will remain in Ketari to help them and will get to work after I am elected as there is so much work to be done.”
Lau will contest against PKR’s Syefura Othman, or Rara, and Roslan Md Esa from Pas.