Karpal steps down as DAP chairman
Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai will assume the post pending Karpal Singh’s appeal against his conviction under the Sedition Act for questioning Perak ruler, Sultan Azlan Shah
(FMT) – DAP veteran Karpal Singh steps down as the party’s chairman following his conviction under the Sedition Act recently.
Pending the appeal of his case, his deputy and Cheras MP, Tan Kok Wai will assume the DAP’s chairmanship.
Karpal, who is also Bukit Gelugor MP, said that he would not want to apply to the Registrar of Societies to retain his party post, adding it would ‘demean himself.’
“Under the circumstances , I am publicly announcing that I am stepping aside as DAP chairman, pending my appeal to the Court of Appeal against the conviction,” he said.
On March 11, Karpal was found guilty of sedition for questioning the Perak ruler, Sultan Azlan Shah on his decision to remove former Perak menteri besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin from his post, in February 2009.
Karpal was subsequently fined RM4,000 by the Kuala Lumpur High Court under Section 4(1)(b) of the Sedition Act, which he describes as an “outdated and irrelevant legislation that is 66 yers old and a sad relic of British colonialism”.
Under Section 9(1)(b) of the Societies Act 1966, a person cannot remain an office-bearer, adviser or employee of a registered society if he has been convicted of any offence and slapped with a fine of more than RM2,000 or jail term more a year
“I cannot, until the conviction is set aside or the fine reduced to one under RM2,000, continue to remain as chairman of DAP,” he said.
