Dato Loh Geok Beng @ Ooi Gan @ Loh Gan gets the Kampung Pala development project Very little is known about this man who now goes by the name Dato’ Loh Geok Beng – this is because for more than 30 years, he went by the name of Ooi Gan @ Loh Gan. He is part of the notorious Penang triad gang known as the Pheh gang – same triad gang as Tan Sri Tan Kok Ping. For a long time, Ooi Gan @ Loh Gan was a fearsome gangster capable of terrible violence. He was involved in a murder case but there was insufficient evidence to charge him and so he was detained under the Emergency Ordinance and was banished under the Restricted Residents Act. After he completed the term of his banishment, he came back to his roots and gang base in Penang in 1988 and started life afresh as a small time contractor known as Wah Bee Construction Engineering. He also changed his name to a more respectable Loh Geok Beng and dropped the other two aliases associated with his dark and criminal past. Soon he managed to get a Datoship award grew his business and ventured into property development and construction and incorporated Wabina Construction & Engineering Sdn.Bhd. (See website:
www. wabina.com)
He is also an Advisor to the Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce together with his fellow triad gang leader Tan Sri Tan Kok Ping of the Pheh gang. He was also once the Deputy President of the Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce as well as a member of the Penang Joint Chambers of Commerce. Dato’ Loh also sits on the board of Heng Ee High School as Chairman and also as a director in the Penang Han Chiang Associated Chinese School. In addition, he is also a member of the ACCCIM Construction & Property Committee, as well as a committee member of the Penang Master Builders & Building Materials Association.
He was instrumental in rallying support for the DAP during the campaigns in Penang in GE12 in 2008 and was involved in facilitating the organising of the DAP Ceramah in the Han Chiang School field in 2008 which later saw the DAP being swept into power as the new State Government of Penang with Lim Guan Eng as the new Chief Minister.
So goodwill was sowed and favours were owed by Guan Eng and Kit Siang to Loh Geok Beng and Tan Kok Ping, also on the Board of the Han Chiang School and these favours have to be repaid.
That is how Dato’ Loh Geok Beng became the beneficiary of the Kampung Pala land saga and scandal which has tainted DAP’s rule in Penang. Immediately after their March 8, 2008 election victory, on March 27, 2008, Lim Guan Eng issued a new land title document to the Kampung Pala land to the developer after accepting RM 2.24 million in special premium and consequently the developer appointed Loh’s company Wabina to be the main contractor for the project and the residents of Kampung Pala were forcibly evicted without adequate compensation.
Today this is the man with a criminal past and goes by the name of Dato’ Loh Geok Beng together with his equally dubious leader Tan Sri Tan Kok Ping are both very close to Lim Guan Eng in Penang. He has a direct line to the Chief Minister to the office and also to the handphone of Guan Eng. Together with Tan Kok Ping, they provided the initial funding for the Pasukan Peronda Sukarela (PPS) – roaming squad in Penang whose members are actually recruited from the triad gangs but now legitimized like licensed gangsters. No wonder one of the PPS Squad leader assaulted a journalist and was charged and fined in court. Initially, Guan Eng felt that that was punishment enough and retained the man for duty in the PPS but as public outcry grew and the media stood up against Guan Eng in loud protest, Guan Eng had no choice but to sack the guilty man from the PPS.
Who was responsible for the initial poor and mistaken decision by Guan Eng? It was none other than Loh Geok Beng who was trying to influence the Chief Minister to protect his own triad gang member who is now in the PPS.
This is a dangerous development because this man is bad news and Guan Eng should stay well away from such characters so that his reputation is not tainted by them. It is a matter of time before they influence Guan Eng to do some other stupid things and wrong decisions which may destroy the career of Guan Eng and even cause DAP’s its power in Penang.
There must be integrity and ethics with good moral values in Penang – only then can DAP rule forever. Again this is written as a warning for Guan Eng to stay away from such negative and dangerous people. The short term gains are simply not worth it.