The day Karpal sneaked in petrol to Parliament to burn evidence
V. Anbalagan, TMI
The best kept secret about a pornographic videotape which lawyer Karpal Singh (pic) submitted to the Dewan Rakyat in 1992 is finally out.
Worried that the videotape would not be accepted and that he could be charged with possession of pornographic material, Karpal prepared a contingency plan. He took into the House a small bottle of petrol inside a specially constructed metal container that fitted neatly into a large briefcase.
The plan was to use the flameproof container to destroy the evidence inside the parliamentary debating chamber if the Speaker, or one of his deputies chairing a session, refused to allow the videotape to be tabled.
“I had earlier conducted a dry run in my office to ensure the videotape can be destroyed quickly if it was returned to me,” he told The Malaysian Insider.
This little known story was revealed in the 325-page biography of Karpal, authored by New Zealand journalist Tim Donoghue.
The book titled “Karpal: Tiger of Jelutong” was launched at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur last Saturday by DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang.
The 73-year-old, who is wheelchair-bound following a road accident in 2005, said he knew police would be waiting for him outside Parliament to seize the tape and later charge him.
“I had no defence. I would have been found guilty under the Film Censorship Act, which carries a fine of up to RM10,000,” he said, adding that he would have lost his job as lawyer and been stripped of his position as a parliamentarian.
On July 20, 1992, he took the opportunity to hand over the tape when the then-Deputy Speaker Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat was in the chair during the House debate on an amendment to the Companies Act.
While speaking during the debate, he took out the videotape from the briefcase and walked towards Ong.
Having said that the videotape was his gift to his fellow MPs, Karpal was relieved that the unsuspecting Ong readily accepted and marked it as part of parliamentary proceedings.
He said the late Speaker Tun Mohamed Zahir Ismail had subsequently requested him to take the tape back but he refused.
“A police officer even came to record my statement but I refused because the incident took place in the House,” he said, citing parliamentary privilege.
Karpal said the briefcase remained within the confines of Parliament until it was handed over to the police.
