A Reformasi 2.0 gathering in Penang last night turned into a memorial service for the late Karpal Singh, veteran DAP leader and icon of the Malaysian political opposition.
Opposition leader and de facto PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim led the tributes to Karpal, who died in a car accident in the early hours of yesterday morning.
“His passing is a personal loss to me, (Datuk Seri Dr Wan) Azizah (Wan Ismail) and my family,” he said, according to The Malaysian Insider.
Anwar recounted to the crowd of several hundreds that Karpal had tried to call him on Wednesday evening.
“I received four missed calls from him at about 6.30pm. I called him back immediately and Karpal told me we have only 10 days to submit our appeal to the Federal Court.
“He told me not to worry. He said to me, ‘You carry on’.
“Karpal said he would take care of the submission and do his best to fight the case in court,” he said.
Anwar was found guilty for sodomising his former aide in 2008 by the Appeals Court last month.
The gathering saw everyone present observing a minute of silence out of respect for the memory of the deceased former DAP national chairman.
Other speakers at the rally to pay tribute to Karpal were Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin, Penang PAS commissioner Mohamad Sabu, PKR strategist Rafizi Ramli, Penang exco member Dr Ariff Bahardin and deputy Selangor speaker Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.
