Karpal Singh s/o Ram Singh Deo (Punjabi: ਕਰਪਾਲ ਸਿੰਘ, romanized: Karpāl Siṅgh; 28 June 1940 – 17 April 2014) was a Malaysian politician and lawyer. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Bukit Gelugor in the state of Penang from 2004 to 2014. During that time, he was also the National Chairman of the Democratic Action Party (DAP).
Born in Penang to Sikh Punjabi Indian immigrant parents, Karpal studied law at the National University of Singapore. He was one of Malaysia's most prominent lawyers and took a number of high-profile cases, including drug-trafficking charges against foreign nationals. Karpal was an opponent of the death penalty, especially for drug trafficking.
In the courtroom and Parliament, he was a controversial figure. Karpal was suspended from Parliament several times, charged with sedition and detained under Malaysia's internal-security law. His reputation as a lawyer and opposition politician gave him the nickname "the Tiger of Jelutong".
Karpal's political career began in 1970 (when he joined the DAP), and he won a seat in the Kedah State Legislative Assembly in 1974. He was elected to parliament in 1978 as representative for Jelutong, Penang, and held the seat for more than 20 years until he lost it in 1999. Karpal returned to Parliament in the next general election, and led the DAP to its strongest-ever performance in the 2008 general election. A 2005 motor-vehicle accident put Karpal in a wheelchair, with neuro-motor problems in his right arm, but he continued his legal and political careers. He died on 17 April 2014 after another motor-vehicle accident.
Born in Georgetown, Penang, Karpal was the son of a watchman and herdsman, Ram Singh Deo. His mother was Kartar Kaur.
Karpal studied at St. Xavier's Institution and received his Bachelor of Laws degree from the National University of Singapore, where he was the president of the student union. He was barred from his hostel for protesting against the university's decision to mandate certificates of political suitability for incoming students. Karpal said he took seven years to graduate, admitting that he was "playful" and "didn't attend lectures". After failing his final-year courses, the dean made him sit at the front of his classes; according to Karpal, "I couldn't play the fool anymore and I passed my exams accordingly!"
He was called to the Penang bar in 1969 and joined a firm in Alor Star, Kedah. Karpal founded his legal firm the following year, and was known for his expertise in the field of litigation. He was a pioneer in drug trafficking and habeas corpus cases, and opposed the death penalty. Karpal was praised for "defending the little man", and was called "a friend to the oppressed and marginalised." Universiti Teknologi MARA law professor Shad Saleem Faruqi praised Karpal's legal team for their innovative interpretations, which helped defendants with difficult cases.
Karpal was described as a leading opponent of the death penalty in Malaysia, and successfully defended at least ten foreigners on serious drug charges (which have a mandatory death sentence). However, in July 2010 he called for convicted child rapists to receive the death sentence.
Among Karpal's highest-profile cases were his defence of Australian drug trafficker Kevin Barlow, who was executed in Malaysia in 1986. Barlow and fellow Australian Brian Chambers were convicted of trafficking heroin by the High Court in Penang in July 1985, and Karpal continued fighting to clear Barlow's name after his execution. Karpal also defended New Zealanders Lorraine Cohen and her son, Aaron, against heroin-trafficking charges in 1987. They were convicted, with Lorraine sentenced to death and Aaron to life in prison. Lorraine's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1989, and both were pardoned and freed in 1996. In 1977, Karpal managed to persuade the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to pardon a 14-year-old Chinese boy who was sentenced to death for possession of a firearm under the Internal Security Act, reportedly suggesting that to let the boy hang would be "politically explosive."
In 2006, Karpal represented two sisters who were charged with allegedly masterminding the murder of their Australian stepfather Hans Herzog, who was killed by two male teenagers in a parang attack at his Kuala Lumpur home in 2003. The sisters were alleged to have hired the two boys to attack Herzog due to their resentment over the supposed abusive treatment they received from Herzog. The sisters were later acquitted without their defence being called, and Karpal would later represent one of the two hired hitmen in his appeal in 2009, which ended with the boy, who was 17 at the time of the crime, to be convicted for murder and detained indefinitely at the Selangor Sultan's pleasure. The boy's older friend Low Kian Boon (aged 18 at the time of the murder) was sentenced to death, before the sentence was reduced to 35 years' imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane in 2024.
Karpal also took on cases outside of Malaysia's jurisdiction during his legal career. In January 1995, Karpal travelled to Singapore and represented Malaysian gunman Ng Theng Shuang in his appeal against the death sentence issued to Ng under the Arms Offences Act for discharging his firearm during a goldsmith robbery heist at Singapore's South Bridge Road. Ng's appeal was dismissed despite Karpal's arguments in the appeal, and he was hanged on 14 July 1995 in Changi Prison.
Karpal represented former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim during Anwar's 1998 sodomy trial. In September 1999, he produced a pathological report confirming high levels of arsenic in Anwar's body and accused authorities of poisoning him: "It could well be that someone out there wants to get rid of him ... even to the extent of murder ... I suspect people in high places are responsible for this situation." The accusation led to Karpal's detention under the Sedition Act in January 2000.
He was the lead defence counsel in Anwar's second sodomy trial, after new allegations in 2008. After a two-year trial, Anwar was acquitted on 10 January 2012; however, the acquittal was overturned two years later.
Karpal joined the Democratic Action Party (DAP) in 1970, citing its multiracial platform after the 1969 race riots. Although he planned to contest the 1974 general election in Penang, he withdrew after his father's death. However, Karpal was persuaded by DAP national organising secretary Fan Yew Teng to stand for the Alor Setar parliamentary seat and the Alor Setar Bandar state seat. He won only the state seat, the first DAP candidate to win a seat in Kedah.
In the 1978 general elections, Karpal won the Jelutong parliamentary seat and the Bukit Gelugor state seat. He held the Bukit Gelugor state seat until 1990, losing subsequent elections for the Sungai Pinang and Padang Kota seats.
In 1989, Karpal accused Deputy Speaker D. P. Vijandran of appearing in pornographic videos. Although the allegations were dismissed due to lack of evidence, Vijandran resigned the following year. In 1992, Karpal produced the alleged videotape in parliament and gave it to Deputy Speaker Ong Tee Keat. Vijandran was convicted in May 1994 of fabricating evidence in an affidavit seeking a court order to stop his nephew from allegedly distributing pornographic videotapes in which he appeared, but the conviction was overturned in 1998. In 2000, Karpal was ordered to pay Vijandran RM500,000 (reduced to RM100,000 on appeal) in damages for defamation after he accused Vijandran of cheque fraud.
In the 1999 election, Karpal lost the Jelutong parliamentary seat he had held for 21 years, and DAP leader Lim Kit Siang was also defeated. The DAP had joined Barisan Alternatif, an opposition alliance with Parti Keadilan and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) (a move strongly supported by Karpal and Lim). Despite the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition's significant losses in the election, Keadilan and PAS absorbed the gains as DAP support eroded due to suspicion of PAS and its hard-line Islamic stance. Although the DAP gained seats, the party performed well below expectations and Lim called the results a "catastrophic defeat". Despite the setback, Karpal remained as party deputy chairman and Lim became chairman after the resignation of long-serving chairman Chen Man Hin. Karpal strongly opposed a PAS plan to introduce hudud (Islamic codes of behavior) into the Terengganu state legal system in 1999, threatening to take the state government to court.