IF he were alive today, Karpal Singh would be more fired up and contest the next general election and lead Malaysia out of these “trying times”.

So said Ramkarpal Singh, the son who won the Bukit Gelugor seat after the DAP leader died three years ago today in a road accident. 

“He would be even more fired up. His age and being confined to a wheelchair would not stop him.

“His sedition case is still pending, but regardless of it, my father would be inspired to run again,” Ramkarpal said, referring to the sedition charge against Karpal for threatening to take the late Sultan Azlan Shah of Perak to court over the 2009 Perak constitutional crisis.

Karpal would be 77 in June. He died in an accident on the North-South Expressway near Gua Tempurung in Perak while travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Penang on April 17, 2014.

Prayers and welfare programmes were organised over the weekend in Penang to commemorate his death.

On the current state of affairs concerning the opposition, Ramkarpal said his father would be disappointed with the lack of unity in Pakatan Harapan.

Karpal was particular about unity and he would had made it a priority to address the issue, he said.

“I think he would have scolded everyone,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Three years on, he said, his father’s constituents still missed him.

“When I visit the people, they talk about him. He remains a household name in Penang.”

Ramkarpal himself would miss his father when he faces his first general election this time.

“It will be a challenge. I’ve always known that I would have to do things on my own one day, but it would be a huge difference if he was around.”

Ramkarpal said Karpal did not expressively give him advice about entering politics. He was not very actively involved in politics before his father’s death. He only joined DAP in 2014, and made his first political speech at a rally at the Han Chiang High School while campaigning with Karpal in the 2013 general election.

“I learned from watching how my father conducted himself. He was extremely principled, and he led by example. I think that was more valuable than words,” Ramkarpal said.

After taking over his father’s seat in the by-election, he said serving the people as an MP gave him a whole different perspective.

“When you are in it yourself, you realise how much it takes out of you but you also gain the satisfaction of helping people and raising issues for the betterment of the country.

“It was not easy for my father, especially when in a wheelchair. It made me appreciate his efforts even more.”

On his father’s legacy, Ramkarpal said Karpal loved the law and was dedicated towards making it better.

“In politics, he was interested in a fair and just society that was free of racial profiling. That was his priority, which started since his university days as a student leader in Singapore.

“I think both his legal profession and political career complimented his struggles.” – April 17, 2017.