He consistently roared and disagreed about hudud law, while his legendary comrade Lim Kit Siang sometime dares not voice it publicly during critical moment. He immediately resigned as DAP chairman following his conviction for sedition, while his comrade Anwar Ibrahim refuses to do the same when convicted of sodomy, never mind Malaysia’s “kangaroo court” was working hand in glove with the present regime.

 

He was perhaps the only person in the country who stand firm that Sultan of Perak’s action can be questioned during the 2009 Perak’s Crisis, while many politicians play dumb and bend over in order not to be thrown into jail. He would not think twice about calling a spade a spade. He was the fiercest general and politician in DAP, and most probably Malaysia. He is Karpal Singh.

Sadly, good men die young, at least to me. Former DAP National Chairman Karpal Singh passed away in a road accident in the North South highway at KM-301.6 near the deadly Gua Tempurung stretch, Kampar, Perak at 1.30am yesterday morning. A Toyota Alphard with its iconic plate KS 9898, the car Karpal was travelling in, collided with a lorry that was allegedly changing lanes without signalling. Preliminary test show cannabis in the lorry driver’s urine sample.

 

Karpal died on the spot as did his long-time and faithful aide Michael Cornelius. His son Ram Karpal, an Indonesian maid and the MPV driver were injured. He leaves behind wife Gurmit Kaur, five children namely daughter Sangeet, sons Jagdeep, Gobind, Ramkarpal and Mankarpal; and four lovely grandchildren. Eldest son, Jagdeep, is the Penang State Assemblyman for Datuk Keramat while second son, Gobind, is the Member of Parliament for Puchong, Selangor.

To the ordinary Malaysians, the fearless “Tiger of Jelutong” was known as a fighter championing democracy, freedom and justice. To the corrupt federal government led by UMNO, the fearless tiger was a troublemaker who tirelessly messed with their evil plans in not only enriching themselves through corruption, but also in corrupting the monarchy, judiciary, executive, legislature and whatnot.

 

Not many young Malaysians know this but Karpal Singh was the celebrity who exposed MIC’s Vijandran (then deputy Speaker) pornographic scandal in 1989. Instead of prosecuting Vijandran, Attorney General Abu Talib Othman instructed the police to destroy all the 11 videotapes, of which Vijandran was the actor. The tapes were stolen from Vijandran’s safe when his house was burgled.

In Karpal’s 325-page biography authored by Tim Donohue, the tiger revealed how he took into Dewan Rakyat a small bottle of petrol, ready to destroy the videotapes, in case his plan to pass the materials to the house fails. The unsuspecting then-deputy Speaker Ong Tee Keat who chaired the house accepted the tapes, much to the relieve of Karpal.

 

Subsequently the late Speaker Mohd Zahir Ismail demanded Karpal to take back the tapes but he refused. If Karpal failed to pass the pornographic videotapes to the house, police would be waiting outside Parliament to seize the tapes and charge him with possession of pornographic material. He would be found guilty under Film Censorship Act, which carries a fine of up to RM10,000, which means he would be stripped of his parliamentarian.

If there’s one type of people you don’t mess around in this country, that’s the “Singh”. The Singh is King and the King is Singh, says the Bollywood film (*grin*). When we were little kids living in village, we were advised three things about the Singh. First – visit a Singh doctor as they were the best who could cure you the fastest. Second – consult a Singh lawyer as they always win. Third – don’t pick a fight with a Singh because battalions of Singh will come due to their unity.

 

I didn’t believe I couldn’t beat my primary school bad-boy Singh. So I consulted a good-boy Singh. I was told the secret in building a hercules body like a Singh was to drink fresh cow milk. So I begged my dad to get some milk, freshly millked from a cow. I couldn’t stomach even half a glass of its strong smell and flavour. I gave up my plan and decided to join the bad-boy bandwagon instead (*wink-wink*).

Of course, Karpal Singh was neither a good-boy Singh nor a bad-boy Singh. He was a controversial people-champion Singh. He won’t care if evil UMNO throws him into jail. He won’t care if the person he is about to criticise or sue is a Sultan or even the King (Yang diPertuan Agong). Heck, he won’t even care about voicing his opinion or displeasure at his own comrades within DAP, let alone Islamic hudud law proposed by team-mates from PAS or PKR.

Let’s take a brief look at Karpal Singh’s biography:

• Born: 28-June-1940 in Penang
• Education: St. Xavier’s Institution, George Town, Penang
• Alma mater: University of Singapore (Bachelor of Laws)
• Political Career and Major Event:
  • 1970: started his legal firm and joined DAP (Democratic Action Party)
  • 1974: his father died
  • 1974: won Alor Setar Bandar state seat (first DAP candidate in Kedah)
  • 1977: persuaded the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to pardon a 14-year old Chinese boy sentenced to death under ISA for firearm possession
  • 1978: won Jelutong parliamentary seat and Bukit Gelugor state seat
  • 1982: won Jelutong parliamentary seat and Bukit Gelugor state seat
  • 1986: won Jelutong parliamentary seat and Bukit Gelugor state seat
  • 1986: filed a lawsuit against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Iskandar of Johor, on behalf of one of the allegedly assaulted men. He lost. The Sultan allegedly named one of his dogs after Karpal Singh
  • 1987-1988: arrested under ISA during Operation Lalang
  • 1988-1989: released (habeas corpus) but re-arrested and imprisoned again
  • 1990: won Jelutong parliamentary seat
  • 1995: won Jelutong parliamentary seat
  • 1999: lost Jelutong parliamentary seat
  • 2000: arrested under Sedition Act
  • 2004: won Bukit Gelugor parliamentary seat (newly created)
  • 2004: elected chairman of DAP
  • 2005: suffered severe neck injuries in a car accident
  • 2008: won Bukit Gelugor parliamentary seat
  • 2013: won Bukit Gelugor parliamentary seat

Despite his undisputed courage and fearlessness, one thing seemed to be haunting Karpal Singh. Road accidents. Just when you bet your last penny that the Tiger of Jelutong would retire for good after a 2005’s car accident which left him wheelchair-bound, this stubborn Singh did the opposite. Not only he called for former dictator Mahathir to apologize for the latter’s role in the 1988 constitutional crisis, he also won Bukit Gelugor parliamentary with bigger votes in 2008 and 2013 elections.

 

Unfortunately, 2014 is a bad year for Malaysia, if you believe in feng-shui. First, you have the disastrous flight MH-370 crisis. Then, the death of Irene Fernandez, Champion of the Oppressed. And now, Karpal Singh’s death. Like it or not, Karpal is an icon who is admired greatly by friends and feared mostly by foes. For as long as there is this thing called politics in this country, Karpal Singh emerges on top of the list.

When you mix law, politics, bravery, courage, principle, fearless and perseverance magic potions together, the result is none other than Karpal Singh. If he were to join the “black force” BN (Barisan Nasional), he would be given nothing short of a national funeral with a “Tun-ship” thrown in plus a street to be named after him. But Karpal is too loyal, clean and principled to join the axis of evil (*grin*).

 

You may get impatient and perhaps a little displeasure over the “evil BN” quotes above. Well, look no further because while the people who worship justice and democracy mourns the passing of a legend, Zulkilfli Noordin and Nawawi Ahmad made jokes on the dead man. Zulkilfli was former Perkasa (a “subsidiary” of UMNO) vice-president while Nawawi is UMNO MP for Langkawi.

Scumbag Zulkilfli rejoiced and tweeted that God has taken away Karpal because the latter opposes hudud implementation. Was Zulkilfli trying to say Karpal deserves to die in such a tragic way even though the Tiger of Jelutong was simply defending the Constitution for the non-Muslims by objecting hudud? Perhaps this is the best talent UMNO can produce via its extremism policy.

 

Then you have a clever Nawawi who thought Karpal’s death provides the best opportunity to promote trains as a safer mode of transportation, but not before he insulted the dead man with a bloody photo, daring others to “step over Karpal’s body”, in reference to Karpal’s challenge against implementing an Islamic state. This arrogant moron may not realize it but UMNO leaders would have died a million times if not for them being escorted by thuggish police outriders.

At least, MIC infamous former president Samy Vellu, whom many despise, is more human than UMNO leaders. Despite decades of “fights and clashes” in Parliament, Samy Vellu acknowledges Karpal was a great man who championed peoples’ issues. Now, you can judge which party is the most evil and inhumane – UMNO or MIC?

 

Karpal Singh may not be a full-fledged minister nor bestowed with Datukship or Tan Sri-ship. But his 44 years of contribution both in politics and law will live forever, and that’s priceless. If ancient Guan Yu was the Chinese top military general well known  for integrity, bravery, loyalty and righteousness imbued with martial prowess, Karpal Singh was modern day Guan Yu to the Malaysian community.

If there’s one person you can rely on against the wealthy, powerful and mighty corrupt regime, you can rely on Karpal Singh. Now he’s gone, life would not be the same again. Take your rest, Karpal King, and watch how 53% of 30 million “Singh” continue your legacy in wiping out the axis of evil, slowly but surely.

 

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April 18th, 2014 by financetwitter

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