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Sikh father-son become MPs in
Malaysia
WSN Network
KUALALUMPUR:
If a Sikh
judge in
East Africa
became big news for the community this week, a day later Malaysian
ethnic Punjabi Karpal Singh and son Gobind Singh Deo created history
by becoming the first-ever Punjabi father-son duo to be elected
members of a Parliament in the world.
The only
parallel of two members of an ethnic family getting elected to the
highest House of a country has been in Canada where the husband-wife
team of Gurmant Grewal and Neena Grewal got into the House of
Commons from British Columbia province some years ago.
For Karpal
Singh, it is his seventh entry to Malaysian Parliament while it is a
debut entry for his son. Indian MP (Rajya Sabha) Tarlochan Singh, in
a letter to Karpal Singh, congratulated him for his win. A lawyer by
profession, Karpal Singh is also the chairman of the main Opposition
party, the Democratic Action party (DAP). Known in Malaysia as
“Tiger of Jelutong”, Karpal now moves in a wheelchair following a
major road accident in 2005. Though Karpal originally comes from
Punjab,
he and his family is known to have stood against injustice and
fought many an important court cases in
Malaysia.
For Karpal
Singh, entry into Parliament came on an unexpected time. As he was
mourning the death of his father, the DAP leadership offered him
candidacy from Penang. Before he could accept the offer, he was
named the candidate and since then he has never looked back except
or losing his seat in 1995.
Recently, when a
Malaysian minister identified Sikhs with Bengalis during the
Baisakhi celebrations,he appealed to the community to ignore such
remarks. At present, there are over one lakh Sikhs in Malaysia.
Gobind Singh Deo is also a prominent lawyer and has been assisting
his father after he returned from Lincoln’s Inn in 1996. Gobind’s
younger brother, Jagdeep Singh Deo, is now a member of the state
Assembly for Datum Kermit State in Penang. Karpal Singh and his sons
are known for their free legal aid and community services.
7
May,
2008
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