Karpal Law Scholarship - UiTM student pledges to uphold legacy

A recipient of the inaugural Karpal Singh Law Scholarship has pledged to uphold the late DAP leader and lawyer’s legacy while he pursues his law degree at UiTM.

Mohamad Akmal Mohd Sake, 19, from Gua Musang, Kelantan, who received RM20,000 in scholarship, described Karpal as an inspiring individual for all aspiring lawyers.

“If you are a student of law and you don’t know Karpal, that’s a crime. So I’m very grateful and happy.

“InsyaAllah, I will be pursuing my degree in law at UiTM Shah Alam,” Akmal told Malaysiakini when met at the Theatre Impian art gallery in Petaling Jaya, after an official cheque presentation ceremony to all 10 recipients.

“I promise to work towards continuing Karpal’s legacy and uphold the good name of the DAP and Karpal himself.

“This scholarship is a form of trust in me and I do not want to ruin that trust,” he said.

In his opening speech, DAP national deputy chairperson Gobind Singh Deo, who is Karpal’s son, recalled his father’s message for all law students to look at the law as something which is “alive” and will evolve according to the times.

Gobind, who is also a lawyer, reiterated Karpal’s commitment to uphold the Federal Constitution and urged all future lawyers to expand on his legacy.

Philanthropist doubled scholarship

Meanwhile, DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke said he had come up with the idea of the scholarship during a car ride on the way to Karpal’s 10-year memorial event, held in April this year.

Loke revealed that the party initially allocated an RM100,000 budget but an unnamed philanthropist subsequently offered to double the amount.

“He said he wanted to repay the kindness of Karpal. When he was a teenager, he remembered sitting with his late father and Karpal.

“Karpal had given his illiterate father free legal advice on land matters, so now he wanted to repay that,” said Loke.

He stressed that the scholarship comes with no strings attached, beyond urging recipients to not waste the opportunity that they have been given.

Loke added that the DAP aims to continue the Karpal Singh Law Scholarship as an annual affair, apart from future plans to set up a Karpal Singh Foundation.

At a press conference after the event, Loke said the DAP is a fair party that does not take into account race, religion or the recipient’s choice of university in awarding the scholarship.

“Most important is that they are needy, and it does not matter which university they are going to,” he said when asked for comments on a perception that the DAP is against UiTM as an academic institution exclusively for the bumiputera.

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