GEORGE TOWN, May 13 ― His facial features lean closer to his mother's but in voice, mannerism and principles, Ramkarpal Singh Deo would not be mistaken for anyone else but a scion of Karpal Singh, the Tiger of Jelutong.
The 38-year-old lawyer who has long dreamt of following in his late father's footsteps in Parliament took the first step towards that goal when he stepped out into a ferociously wild and wet night on the stump in a Chinese residential area in the Bukit Gelugor constituency.
The bachelor may be a fresh face in DAP but the political scene and elections are not something new to him.
“Please do not support me becase of my father but support me because I have something to offer.
“It is not by chance that I have 15 to 20 years of experience helping my father in his election campaigns, helping him draft questions for Parliament and discussing issues to raise in Parliament with him regularly,” he told a crowd of some 100 people huddled under multi-coloured umbrellas on a rainy Monday night.
It was his maiden ceramah and yet, the middle child of five seemed at ease as he talked about his father’s fight and how he will carry on his father’s work.
He reminded the crowd that BN had dropped out of the by-election to use it as a tactic to lull voters into thinking it would be an easy win for DAP so that less voters would come out to vote come May 25.
“So, I would like to appeal to all of you, it is most important that all of you show up to cast your vote on May 25 so that DAP will continue to garner a huge vote majority, just like the support you gave my father in the last general elections,” Ramkarpal said.
Brushed off talks of nepotism and his political inexperience, Ramkarpal drew the crowd's attention with his zeal, saying the real issues to focus on for him were the rise in deaths in custody and the abuse of power, particularly in using the Sedition Act against national-level opposition political leaders.
“All I am asking from all of you is for a chance to carry on Karpal’s work,” he said.
Well aware that he had a lot of ground to cover, DAP had lined up a punishing campaign schedule for Ramkarpal in the next few days that starts at 8am each morning with market visits before continuing on to house-to-house visits and finally ending with small-scale ceramah at residential areas.
His first walkabout yesterday took him into a BN hardcore area, Kampung Melayu, where a night market was just starting to set up.
His was a face not many would recognise but when he spoke, his intonation and the pauses in his sentences as he turned to look at the people in the audience was reminiscence of his late father’s very demeanour.
Those who have heard Karpal speak previously would instantly recognise his voice, so much so that a constituent went up to Ramkarpal and told him just that.
There are a total of 82,431 registered voters in Bukit Gelugor that covers three state constituencies ― Seri Delima, Air Itam and Paya Terubong ― all of which are also under DAP.
Ramkarpal will be facing PCM’s Huan Cheng Guan and independent candidates Abu Backer Sidek Mohammad Zain and Mohd Nabi Bux Abd Mohd Sathar this May 25.
It is widely held that DAP will likely retain the seat due to the massive vote majority that Karpal had garnered in the last two general elections ― 42,706 vote majority in 2013 and 21,015 vote majority in 2008.
The sentiments and support for DAP and Karpal had remained strong among many Penang voters and this is obvious by the unprecedented large crowds that turned up at Karpal’s state funeral last month.
