Karpal Singh – the prominent lawyer, lawmaker and DAP leader
– died early this morning in a road accident while on the way to Penang, doing
what he does best: going to court for a client. He was 73.
His reputation as a lawyer and politician had earned him the
nickname the "Tiger of Jelutong" from the time he started legal
practice in 1970 – which was also the year he joined the Democratic Action
Party (DAP).
When he died early today, Karpal had just let go of the DAP
chairmanship as he battled a sedition conviction that risked his four decades
of legal and political career.
But the controversial decision was nothing to Karpal. He had
been thrown out of parliament, put in detention during Ops Lalang in 1987 and
had faced previous sedition charges.
"Eliminating me from the political terrain will not be
the end of Karpal Singh. It will in fact lead to the rise of many Karpal
Singhs!" said Karpal, who was Amnesty International's "prisoner of
conscience" for his detention without trial.
His legal and political colleagues remember him as a
fearless and smart lawyer and politician, but to the countless ordinary people
in his Penang constituency and legal office in Jalan Pudu Lama, Kuala Lumpur –
he was a friend.
This was the other side of Karpal Singh apart from his
legendary roles as a DAP politician and remarkable lawyer – he was a
gentle-mannered man who was always ready to help the ordinary folk he came
across in his daily life.
They knew Karpal as a humble man with a ready smile, who was
always ready to stop and listen, no matter how small you were. No question was
too trivial or repetitive for him to answer, no hello was too unimportant to
stop for.
His tragic death in a road accident today meant that he
"died in his saddle", a term he had used upon turning 70 when he
said: "I've always said that a lawyer should die in a saddle. I think it
equally applies to being a politician."
An earlier road accident in 2005 put him in a wheelchair
while this morning's road accident occurred near Gua Tempurung when the veteran
lawyer was on his way up north to Penang in his white Alphard for a court case.
Anyone who knew Karpal would easily attest to how he was
probably the busiest 73-year-old around, often shuttling between parliament and
court during the week, and on weekends, travelling up north, mostly to visit
his constituency or for a court case.
Nothing would stop him in court or politics. Not even the
latest sedition conviction where he was alleged to have said that the removal
of Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin as menteri besar of Perak by Perak
ruler, Sultan Azlan Shah, could be questioned in a court of law.
Karpal's defence was that he had offered a legal opinion and
not a threat to the ruler, who was once the Lord President of the Supreme
Court. Charged for the offence in 2009, Karpal was acquitted by the High Court
without his defence called in the first round.
However, the prosecution appealed against the decision and
succeeded at the Court of Appeal, and even pressed for a deterrent sentence
against the wheelchair-bound politician.
He was handed down a RM4,000 fine, which would have
disqualified him as an MP if he did not succeed in an appeal which has not been
heard.
Karpal joined DAP in 1970 and was first elected as a Kedah
state assemblyman in 1974 before becoming MP for Jelutong in 1978, a seat he
held until he lost in 1999.
He returned to parliament in the 2004 general election as
the Bukit Gelugor MP, and although the motor accident in 2005 confined Karpal
to a wheelchair, it did nothing to curb his spirit or vigour.
Karpal's legal career started when he was admitted to the
Penang Bar in 1969 after reading law at the National University of Singapore.
He was one of Malaysia's most prominent lawyers, and had
taken up numerous high-profile cases, including drug trafficking charges
against foreign nationals such as Australian Kevin Barlow, and the sodomy
accusations against former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
He was a staunch opponent of the death penalty, especially
for drug trafficking offences.
He was detained in the Ops Lalang government crackdown in
October 1987 under the Internal Security Act which allows for detention without
trial, along with DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang and 104 others. He was released in
1989.
Karpal was also known to be opposed to turning Malaysia into
an Islamic state, often citing the Federal Constitution that provides for a
secular nation.
"I’m doing it for the country. At the end that’s what
it is for," he had told The Malaysian Insider in an interview before his
70th birthday.
He had also said then that "one can't always win,but
should not stop trying either".
Clearly, Karpal never stopped. He was and will always be a
Malaysian hero.
He will be missed, never forgotten. He will always be loved,
treasured and respected for decades to come.
But that cannot be said about the government which until the
last moment was trying to put him behind bars for speaking the truth and
speaking lucidly about something that mattered dearly to him: the law.
He leaves behind wife Gurmit Kaur, daughter Sangeet, sons
Jagdeep, Gobind, Ramkarpal and Mankarpal, and a host of grandchildren. And
Malaysians.
No comments:
Post a Comment