Malaysia: Not many lawyers can claim to have sued the king the name of the king, When Malaysian lawyer Karpal Singh brought a case against the sultan of Johor in 1986 then also king of Malaysia the summons was issued in the king’s name, Karpal lost the case, and the sultan allegedly named one of his dogs after him,
It is a measure of this man, who’s legal and political career spans almost quarter of a century that despite the odd she has consistently taken on cases that test the rights of ordinary Malaysians as en shrined in the constitution. At53, Penang born Karpal Singh is perhaps Malaysia’s most famous lawyer. Being a prominent member of the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) also helps keep him in the public eye. Overseas he is best known for his stout defense of foreigners facing the gallows on drugs charges. He has successfully defended at least 10 Westerners On serious drugs charges, which under Malaysian law carry a mandatory death sentence, Karpal’s defense of the little man against the weight of the law has earned him a reputation summed up by an inscribed plaque from @ grateful client which hangs in his overcrowded office in the heart of Kuala Lumpur “Noble and Able Defender of the Defenseless.”
Indeed, a visit to Karpal’s Jalan Pudu Lama office at almost any time of day brings to mind a doctor’s clinic rather than a legal practice, His clients seem to be drawn from the flotsam and jetsam of Malaysian society a shabby Indian gentleman clutching his dignity in a battered briefcase, a sullen Chinese youth with a wild stare and tom shirt. They wait patiently for a few moments with the man, “Of course won at take a hopeless case,” Karpal says, “but there’s nothing like taking on a case with an element of challenge with it” Educated at Penang’s St Xavier institution one of the oldest schools in the country Karpal read law in Singapore and was called the Penang bar in 1969. It was the 13 May 1969 race nots in Kuala Lumpur that drew him into politics, “I thought about the future, and thought the multiracial DAP was the party to join,” he recalls. In 1974 he was elected a DAP assemblyman in Alor Star, “Actually, Mahathir was my constituent,”Says Karpal, with a gleam of humor in his eye.
Today in parliament, Karpal Singh sits on the opposition benches across from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mahathir Mohamad, the man who had twice had him arrested and detained under the ISA. Karpal was one of over 100 opposition figures picked: up during the October 1987 operating Lallang.”
Beli¢ving in the law, Karpal chose to fight is detention in court. He won on a technicality and was released almost five months later, But Mahathir had him rearrested the someday, He was not released until January 1989. “The legal profession has been standing up to Mahathir, and he doesn’t tolerate it,” Karpal says. “Politically life is not what it used to be in Malaysia,” says Karpali His biggest problem and that of DAP is the media black our on reporting what the opposiion says, “We are conducting politics in the dark, This is very frustrating. It is not that we aren’t doing anything. Just that nobody really knows what we are doing.”
In 1984 when he railed against the legal immunity granted to the rulers, Karpal was ejected from parliament for contempt. Almost a decade later, he feels vindicated, Some in his party criticized Karpal’s stand on the rulers this Ume round because it meant sup Porting the government. “I have no regrets,” says Karpal, “I am JUSE Sticking to Principles.” (Courtesy Of: Far Eastern Economic Review).
Article extracted from this publication >> June 11, 1993
