A Tribute to Karpal Singh (1940-2014)

Karpal Singh was a prominent Malaysian lawyer and politician from the Democratic Action Party (DAP). He served as the national chairman of DAP from 2004.

Karpal was born on 28 June 1940 in George Town, Penang, of Punjabi parentage. He read law at the University of Singapore, now the National University of Singapore (NUS), where he was president of the student union. In his law career, Karpal rose to become one of the most prominent lawyers in the country, defending many in high-profile cases, becoming a friend to many who were oppressed¹.

Karpal Singh joined the Democratic Action Party in 1970, the same year he began his law practise. He was supposed to contest the 1974 general election, but withdrew due to his father's demise. Nonetheless, he was persuaded to stand for election, and he did, for the Alor Setar parliamentary and Alor Setar Bandar state seats. Karpal went on to win the state seat, becoming the first DAP candidate to do so.²

In the 1978 general elections, Karpal Singh contested and won the Jelutong parliamentary seat and the Bukit Gelugor state seat, both in Penang. He held on to the Bukit Gelugor state seat until 1990, when he moved to contest the Sungai Pinang state seat, but was defeated. He also lost his parliamentary seat during that general elections. He was however returned to parliament in the 2004 general elections, with a 1,261-majority margin for the Bukit Gelugor seat.³

Karpal Singh was married to Gurmit Kaur, a Punjabi from Narathiwat, Thailand, whose family relocated to Penang when she was seven. They have four sons and one daughter namely Jagdeep Singh Deo, Gobind Singh Deo, Ramkarpal Singh, Sangeet Kaur and Man Karpal.

On 28 January, 2005, the taxi in which Karpal Singh was riding was hit from behind by a car, severely injuring him and thereafter confining him to a wheelchair. He was unable to walk or to raise his right arm beyond a few centimeters.⁴

Karpal Singh passed away in the early hours of 17 April, 2014, when the motorcar he was riding crashed into a lorry along the North-South Expressway near Gua Tempurung. The crash also killed Karpal's personal assistant C. Michael, and critically wounded his Indonesian maid.

Following his demise, Karpal Singh became the first leader of the Democratic Action Party to ever receive a state funeal. He also became the first to be honoured with the renaming of a street when the IJM Promenade, comprising Lebuh Sungai Pinang 4 and Lebuh Sungai Pinang 5, were renamed Karpal Singh Drive, or Persiaran Karpal Singh.

References

List of Penang's Who's Who