IN KUALA LUMPUR
NO ONE could accuse the Malaysian Parliament of being boring. With MPs going at each other almost everyday, the din in the august House can be quite deafening at times.
But scuffles were unheard of until Thursday, when a minor one broke out outside the hall when Umno Youth members confronted Mr Karpal Singh, a feisty opposition MP.
Mr Karpal, 69, who is in a wheelchair, enraged them when he accused Umno Youth of sending him bullets in the mail.
“Singh is King,” Mr Karpal said, playing on the title of a new Bollywood movie to declare that he would not be cowed.
The Umno Youth took umbrage, and about 20 of them confronted him asking for an apology. A scuffle broke out when other opposition MPs came to his assistance.
Mr Karpal has been in the centre of controversy since Barisan Nasional toppled the opposition government in Perak earlier this month.
He threatened to sue the Sultan of Perak for installing a new BN government, sparking an uproar and almost 100 police reports have been lodged against him.
The police have forwarded the papers to the Attorney-General’s office to decide if he should be prosecuted.
Mr Karpal is no stranger to Malaysian politics or the law, or controversy. He is a prominent lawyer who handles mainly criminal cases and is as fearless in court as he is in Parliament.
His reputation for being larger than life, earned him the nickname "Tiger of Jelutong" after his constituency in Penang. He is now MP for another constituency, Bukit Gelugor, also in Penang.
He has been wheelchair-bound since 2005 after a motor accident in Penang.
Such is his fame that the bank manager whose car crashed into Mr Karpal’s taxi reportedly cried out “What have I done, I hit the Tiger of Jelutong!” when he realised that it was the MP in the taxi.
Two of Mr Karpal’s sons are now also in politics. Mr Gobind Singh is an MP in Selangor, while Mr Jagdeep Singh is an assemblyman in Penang.
Mr Karpal is the national chairman of the opposition Democratic Action Party, and is a true veteran of the party. But he often clashes with it on crucial issues, notably his stands on the Islamic state and party-hopping.
It is no secret that his party colleagues are sometimes dismayed at his outspokenness and he is often left without supporters.
As the opposition tries to keep a united front, it is clear that some among them would prefer Mr Karpal to tone down his outspokenness. But that is unlikely to happen.
In a way his independence benefits the opposition. His unwavering position has earned him respect as a man of principles and could help the opposition avoid the tempting trap of political expediency.