Karpal Singh, MP for Bukit Gelugor, National Chairman of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Pakatan Rakyat elder statesman, died in a car accident on the North-South Expressway near Gua Tempurung, Kampar, Perak in the early hours of this morning. He was 73.
Kampar police chief Ng Kong Soon confirmed that Karpal died in an accident at Km306.1 of the North-South Expressway at 12.40am.
It was believed Karpal and his retinue were travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Penang to attend a court hearing scheduled for this morning. The Toyota Alphard he was in along with three other passengers apparently collided with a lorry before skidding out of control.
Karpal’s assistant C Michael, also died in the accident. Karpal’s son Ramkarpal and the car’s driver C Selvam were injured.
Karpal’s son Gobind Singh Deo, MP for Puchong, who was in Kuala Lumpur at the time of the accident, told The Star Online, “My brother Ram is slightly injured but we are trying to get through to him.”
The accident marks the end of Karpal Singh’s illustrious political career. He joined the DAP in 1970 and won a seat on the Kedah state legislative assembly in 1974. In 1978 he was elected the MP of Jelutong, Penang, a seat he would hold on to for more than 20 years, earning him the nickname “the Tiger of Jelutong”. He was also a fierce legal practitioner, known for taking up high-profile drug trafficking cases against foreign nationals, and defending felow opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim of PKR against sodomy charges. He was a staunch oponent of the death penalty. Most recently, Karpal was found guilty of sedition stemming from his 2009 remarks on the role of the Sultan of Perak on the matter of the state’s constitutional crisis, a conviction that threatened to strip him of his Bukit Gelugor parliamentary seat and land him in prison.
Karpal Singh is survived by a wife, five children and four grandchildren.
