‘I’m on a wheelchair, but DAP stands strong’

DAP chairperson Karpal Singh, who was left confined to a wheelchair following a road accident, said while he may be disabled, his party however stands strong.

“I may be seated, but the members are strongly behind me,” the renowned lawyer and veteran politician added to a thunderous applause during the DAP national convention in Ipoh.

Karpal was referring to the remark made by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) lawyer Abdul Razak Musa.

While the two lawyers locked horns on Thursday during an application to cite a MACC officer for contempt with regards to the Teoh Beng Hock inquest, Abdul Razak had said: “I can sit down but Karpal cannot stand up.”

Following a heated exchange and an attempt to cite the MACC lawyer for contempt, Abdul Razak withdrew his remark and apologised.

Allah ruling may be overturned

During his speech at the convention, Karpal also raised the possibility of the Court of Appeal quashing the high court’s decision on the Allah issue just like the Perak takeover case.

If this happens, he said, the case would then be referred to the Federal Court for a final decision.

Citing the Perak case, he said ousted menteri besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin won in the high court but the decision was overturned by the appellate court.

“This does not amount to contempt of court as we have the right to criticise the judiciary in their ruling,” he explained to Malaysiakini during the tea break.

He also said the people should not jump to conclusions and become emotional over the issue but allow the Court of Appeal or Federal Court to decide the matter.

On another note, he told party delegates that the immediate task is to ensure that Pakatan Rakyat supremo Anwar Ibrahim is not convicted and imprisoned in relation to the sodomy case against him.

He also highlighted ‘attempts by the Barisan Nasional government’ to harass, intimidate and take DAP secretary-general and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to court over his statement that Teoh was murdered.

A force to reckon with

As for the next general election, Karpal said DAP will be a force to reckon with in the mission to pave the way for Pakatan to seize control of the federal government.

He added that while the coalition welcomes principled politicians from BN, its doors however are shut to opportunists.

In another development, Karpal said he will lodge two police reports later this afternoon, one against Selangor police chief Khalid Abu Bakar for threatening Guan Eng and the other against MACC officer Raub Ghani for lodging a false police report against Thai forensic expert Dr Pornthip Rojasunand.

On Thursday, Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail cleared Pornthip of any wrongdoing for allegedly leaking her second autopsy report.

The controversy arose over an article in PKR organ Suara Keadilan which quoted a Health Ministry official as saying that Pornthip had confirmed that Teoh was murdered.

malaysiakini.com