Gobind remembers late father’s fighting spirit
PUTRAJAYA: Newly-minted Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo spoke of his father the late Karpal Singh as “irreplaceable” for the many battles he fought despite being in a small group of opposition members in Parliament.
“I find it difficult to comprehend sometimes. He was in a small number of opposition members those days and he still found the courage to keep fighting.
“Can you imagine being in a small group in the Opposition in Parliament against all odds, being detained and yet he just fought on? Despite being involved in an accident, and being ill, he carried on, he went to Parliament and made an impact. “He was the ‘Tiger’ we all knew,” he told theSun in a recent interview.
Gobind said his father would have been very happy with Pakatan Harapan’s achievement in the 14th general election because of the hard work they put in as the Opposition for many years.
He said being the first Sikh minister in Malaysia was an achievement for the community.
“It’s a privilege and honour for me and I was told that I am the first in Southeast Asia as well as apart from India and Canada there has been no Sikh minister
“This is the moment that we can be proud of and of course the expectations are high. On my part, my late father was the one instrumental in putting me on this path, guiding me here,” he added.
Gobind also pointed out that his father, who died in 2014 following a car accident, always stressed the importance of a lawyer and a politician dealing with setbacks.
“There are many battles in life, be it in your professional line of work or otherwise, we must accept that things don’t go our way always. We must learn to deal with these setbacks, learn from them and move ahead. There are times he felt like giving up but the best advice is keep going, and in his words the fight goes on and never give up.” – by Ashwin Kumar and Karen Arukesamy