GOBIND Singh Deo is continuing the journey that his father, the iconic Karpal Singh, started in DAP nearly 40 years ago to end unjust laws and stop abuse of power and corruption in government.

Today, that same journey involves working with anyone who agrees with those aims, including Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the former prime minister who had signed his father’s detention order under the Internal Security Act.

This is because those aims can only be achieved by taking over Putrajaya and changing the laws while in federal power, said Gobind who last weekend was chosen to be DAP deputy chairman.

And to get to Putrajaya, DAP needs to work with Dr Mahathir and his party, Bersatu, which has shown that it also shares DAP’s aims, said Gobind​ who is also Puchong MP.

This, in a nutshell, was how Gobind sees his future as the new deputy chairman of the party his father, who was affectionately called “Mr Karpal”, helped build.

“Mr Karpal had always said, there are no permanent friends or enemies but permanent principles. And the journey to achieve those principles must go on,” said the 44-year-old.

Those principles include abolishing unjust laws that allowed for preventive detention and which shielded the corrupt who were in power.

“I will continue that journey because that is what I think Mr Karpal would have wanted me and DAP to do.”

It’s the fight that counts

Last weekend, Gobind was chosen to be deputy to party chairman Tan Kok Wai, who is also Cheras MP.

His father was once deputy to party supremo Lim Kit Siang, in the early 2000s.

The journey to the top began more than 15 years ago, and Gobind started much like the party’s other princelings, Lim Guan Eng and Chong Chieng Jen, at the bottom as an ordinary member.

He credits his rise to the support and goodwill he received as head of the party’s legal bureau, a position he has held for a decade.

“Work in the legal bureau took me across the country, as we had cases in every state. It gave me so many opportunities to meet members. I am thankful that I was able to gain their confidence and support.”

Besides the party’s legal work, he has made national headlines for doing pro bono work for a variety of people in cases where the law seems to have been misused.

One famous case was that of law professor Dr Azmi Sharom, who was charged with sedition for giving a legal opinion on the appointment of a new Selangor menteri besar.

He also represented the family of former Selangor government officer Teoh Beng Hock, who was found dead the morning after he was questioned by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

A less well-known case involved a painter who was wrongly accused of stealing works of art.

Gobind believes all the goodwill that he had garnered was not merely because he won cases.

“It’s the fight that matters. Winning is a bonus. People recognise that and even if you lose, there is a lot of gratitude for your efforts.”

Unlike most political parties, DAP delegates choose 20 members to sit on the central executive committee (CEC). The CEC then chooses among themselves office bearers, from the chairman to the powerful secretary-general.

Gobind’s ascension to deputy chairman was not surprising and he was aware that the party was mou​lding him to fill his father’s shoes.  He received the second highest number of votes at 1,198, one short of Lim Kit Siang, who came out on top.

“I am grateful and humbled by all the confidence and support. But I still think it is a very heavy responsibility. Being head of the legal bureau and deputy (party) chief are two different things. It’s a bigger role now nationally.”

The new post will see Gobind supporting the chairman and the secretary-general in enforcing the CEC’s decisions.

The bigger picture

The late Karpal left a monumental impression on the party and on the national political landscape.

Observers have described him as the immovable conscience of DAP, who ensured that it stuck to its principles even if they threatened its work with other opposition allies.

Karpal’s insistence that PAS could pass the controversial Sh​ariah penal code,​ hudud,​ only over “his dead body” would constantly muddy relations with the Islamist party when they were both in Pakatan Rakyat.

So, when DAP started working with Dr Mahathir, people came up to Gobind to tell him that his father would never have agreed to it.

After all, working with PAS, another opposition party, was one thing, but working with an “ex-dictator” who built a system Karpal had fought against all his life, was unimaginable.

In fact, Dr Mahathir detained Karpal under the Internal Security Act twice. Once as part of the 1987 Ops Lalang crackdown.

When he won a habeas corpus application against that detention, he was released in 1988, only to be re-arrested. Karpal was only finally freed ​in 1989.

“Many have said to me that Mr Karpal would never have agreed to working with Dr Mahathir. But I am not entirely sure that is true.”

When DAP became part of the state government in Penang and Selangor after the 12th general election in 2008 and GE13 in 2013, the party​ and Karpal realised that a new era was upon them, said Gobind.

It meant that DAP, which since its inception in 1965 thought of itself as the country’s loyal opposition, was now a viable government-in-waiting, he said.

“People were comfortable with us as the government because they saw we could perform.”

That made Karpal and DAP realise that it could one day achieve its aims and principles​, he said. But to do it, it could not fight the elections alone, and needed allies that shared its aims.

“The principles were consistent but the approach changed. That is when we realised we needed to work together, to ensure straight fights to give BN (Barisan Nasional) a serious challenge.”

It was in this context that the relationship with Dr Mahathir and Bersatu was forged, said Gobind.

And, he believes Karpal would not have opposed it, just like how Karpal did not oppose working with PAS until the latter’s leadership changed tack in 2015.

“When Dr Mahathir and Bersatu are committed to changes which are in line with our principles, then we have to look at the bigger picture and for the interests of Malaysia as a whole.” – November 19, 2017.