Tribute for Karpal’s 70th Birthday Special Publication – “Karpal Singh: True Malaysian” dedicated by DAP Malaysia
Karpal cut his teeth paving the way to become the country’s foremost criminal and constitutional lawyer with landmark controversies in the Seventies like the case of 14-year-old boy who was sentenced to death for possession of a pistol and who was finally commuted after an intense national and international campaign; Fan Yew Teng sedition and my Official Secrets Act trials – going on into the Eighties and Nineties as counsel in the landmark public interest litigation suit against the United Engineers (M) Bhd and the Government of Malaysia for improper award of North-South Expressway privatization (“piratisation”); the Mahathir contempt case; the Lim Guan Eng sedition and “false information” trials in defence of an underaged Malay girl and the two sets of Anwar Ibrahim trials divided by a decade.
In his stout and intrepid defence of human rights, the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary and the principles of accountability, transparency and good governance, Karpal is not just counsel but active participant – which was why he wears the badge of honour as a former Internal Security Act detainee, incarcerated with five other DAP MPs (Lim Guan Eng, Dr. Tan Seng Giaw, the late P. Patto, the late V. David, Lau Dak Kee and myself) in Kamunting Detention Centre under the infamous mass ISA “Operation Lalang” dragnet by Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammad when Prime Minister in October 1987 with 106 people detained under the swoop.
Karpal is himself no stranger to malicious persecution, whether for his conscientious and fearless defence of victims of political prosecutions or for upholding the principles of the Malaysian Constitution and the rule of law in the country.
Although presently wheel-chair bound because of an accident, Karpal has not allowed his physical infirmities to deter him one whit and his voice continues to boom in the Chambers of Parliament to speak up for justice, the rule of law, accountability, transparence and good governance.
Karpal is a giant in law and politics and most of all, a great Malaysian!
Happy 70th birthday, Karpal. Look forward to your 80th birthday anniversary!