GEORGE TOWN, April 19 — The late Karpal Singh was not only a formidable lawyer in court but also defended his five children at home when their mother got upset.
Gobind Singh Deo, the second-eldest of the five siblings, shared how his father always took the children's side whenever they got into trouble with their mother, Gurmit Kaur.
“He was our “lawyer” at home as he would defend us… he was the best dad in the world,” he said at his father's wake here this morning.
Karpal was known as a man with principles and this was the very value that he imparted to his children.
“He taught us to always stick to our principles, there's no two ways about it,” the Puchong MP said.
He said his father would not stop to think twice about saying what must be said about any issue.
“Some people may not like his directness but at the end of the day, everyone respected him because of that,” he said.
Today is the last day of Karpal's wake at his house along Jalan Utama where the public can pay their last respects until 11pm tonight.
Crowds have started gathering to pay their last respects as early as 8am today.
The whole road continued to be jammed up as traffic slowed down near Karpal's house due to the growing crowd spilling onto the road.
Flower wreaths and other tributes from paintings to artworks depicting Karpal's face next to a tiger were crammed all around the compound of the single-storey bungalow.
Canopies were also set up across the road from the house for the overwhelming numbers of flower wreaths from various organizations, individuals and parties.
The late Bukit Gelugor MP was killed in a car crash at about 1.10am on April 16 after the car he was travelling in collided with a lorry.
He will be accorded a funeral with state honours where the state flag is flown at half-mast until his cremation.
Tomorrow, the cortège will leave the house at 8am to make its way to Dewan Sri Pinang on Lebuh Light for a public ceremony.
The ceremony at Dewan Sri Pinang is from 9am to 11am to allow the public to pay their last respects to the man fondly remembered as the “Tiger of Jelutong”.
The cortège will go on a short procession around several places that marked milestones in Karpal’s life that includes the Penang High Court, his legal firm in Green Hall, the Penang state legislative assembly on Lebuh Light and his alma mater St Xavier's Institution on Farquhar Street.
After the procession, the cortège will head to the Batu Gantung crematorium for the final funeral rites.
