Jagdeep Singh Deo, 35, cannot escape being compared with the fiery, articulate, veteran opposition MP he has for a father in Karpal Singh. He has been found wanting in the noise department but maintains that he does not have the platform yet to be vocal. He tells REGINA WILLIAM he shares his father's passion for politics which was why he ran for a state seat on a DAP ticket in the 1999 general election. He stresses the importance of check-and-balance in a democracy, hence the need for a strong opposition. A committee member in Penang DAP, this eldest son runs the family's law firm while waiting for the right time to step more fully into politics.

theSun: You have been active in the Penang political scene in the past, especially helping out in your father's election campaigns and contesting on a DAP ticket in the 1999 general election. What political inclination do you have considering you have to balance practising law and politics?

I am in the state DAP as a committee member. I was elected at the party's state convention and I am currently the state deputy publicity committee chairman. I stood once on a DAP ticket during the 1999 general election for the Bukit Gelugor state seat and lost.

Definitely there is an inclination towards politics but I think timing - there is a right time where politics is concerned. The last election (2004) we had to concentrate and pool our resources on my father's campaign because of the results in 1999. We do not have as much resources as Barisan (Nasional) and we could not take the chance in 2004 because not only my father but big names like Kit Siang, they did not have a seat. It was very important for them to come back and get the party stabilised in that sense with the veteran leaders back in Parliament. If that was not the case, then the question of the younger generation coming in would not arise, and when that was the situation in 2004, we could not risk another term where the veteran leaders are not there. So the strategy was to concentrate all resources on them. So that (2004) was not an appropriate time for me, if you see what I mean, timing is very important, it is not whether we have an inclination or not. That is why I am still in the party. Of course the next round will be very interesting to see what happens.

As far as the law firm is concerned, four out of five children, are already practising. At the moment you are aware that we are doing the work that he (Karpal) used to do. My two brothers, my sister and I. Because of the unfortunate incident (Karpal's accident) he is now unable to attend to court matters but we have continued with the work from that time. Of course, he still comes to the offices whenever he is in KL or Penang, wherever he is, he makes it a point to come in the evening, and spend about two to three hours, it keeps him going psychologically. He is very much a consultant to all of us here, in that he is still quite involved in the legal firm.

Politically, where he is concerned, he makes it a point when he can to attend Parliament. At the moment, to be very honest, one of the reasons why I have not been able to put in much time where the party is concerned is the fact that I have to man the fort, so to speak. That is of course taking up a lot of time. A lot of my time is focused on the firm because we have to take over a lot of files. But that does not mean that I am not interested in politics, like I said timing is of utmost importance and this is midway through the period before the next elections. I am trying to concentrate resources on the firm now so that when it is necessary for me to get back to party work I'll be able to do that.

Being Karpal Singh's son, were you ever forced to go into politics or felt obligated to do so?

Certainly not. I had my choice not to run in 2004, in fact I was supposed to, I was asked but of course there were many pros and cons and the decision was made by me not to run. Because we wanted to concentrate on my father coming back in. I have always wanted to be active politically, and that is one of the reasons I ran in 1999. It is not because my father told me to. My father never told me (to do) anything, that is the strange thing about this man. He just does anything and the whole country wants to do it, not just me as his son. He is a great person, he doesn't tell people to do anything. He just does the right thing. He does instill political awareness in us without a doubt but never were we under duress or threatened to accept his ideals. He never did that, but he instilled the awareness because of the issues that he's involved in, he is a person who always takes up challenges, doesn't do things run-of-the-mill, so that is one thing that keeps me going.

As part of the younger generation, how do you look at things... where the space for opposition views is not so broad here in Malaysia?

I think now with the progress we have in technology, especially the Internet age, that somewhat is a lesser problem. It is still there as far as the local dailies are concerned and, of course, you can see our former prime minister (Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad) is getting a taste of his own medicine. I think because of that, a lot of people realise how necessary it is to have criticism and obviously it took a former prime minister who is quite riled up because of his project not going through with Singapore to remind the country of the constraints the media is facing. That is one of the main things the DAP is fighting for, one of its agendas is political equality which includes equality in the press and if you don't have that, it has always been a major stumbling block.

My viewpoint is, in the (Datuk Seri) Abdullah (Ahmad Badawi) regime, I seem to see this somewhat opening up and I can see a lot of editorials taking stands which I think they would not have been able to under the past prime minister. The DAP even before, they have always done it, and they continue to send their views to the local dailies but whether or not these will be published, is a matter we have to wait and see. Most of the leaders they do issue statements which are carried in our (DAP) internal bulletin and the Rocket. All these statements are sent out on a daily basis to all the press but, of course, whether you want to carry it or not is beyond (our) control.

What important issues do you think need to be addressed?

Definitely, like I said just now, political equality is a very important term. I like to use this term because it covers a lot of things. You can even look at it in the viewpoint as freedom of speech as far as the media is concerned but more importantly, where this question is concerned it will involve the fact that at the moment it is non-existent for the opposition in the country as 90% of the seats are held by the Barisan Nasional government.

There is very little room for dissent and as a result, there are a lot of cases of abuse of power, possible corruption and so forth. This seems to have surfaced quite a bit. We can see a lot of these issues coming up in the press. What is very important, we are certainly not trying to say we want to be an alternative government at this point of time but because of the numbers it is very important that there should be some balance, or some semblance of reality to that term called check-and-balance in any democracy which I think at the moment is non-existent. We need to have a credible number of opposition leaders, for instance in Penang. We now have one person from the DAP and one from PAS, the other 38 are from Barisan.

Physically it is not possible for them to actually engage and address issues unless they are there on a 24-hour basis. The point we are trying to say, the issues are political equality, how to have better government, less corruption, more openness but all this can only come into play if there is stronger opposition. That is what we are looking for the next time around, stronger opposition.

Is the Opposition still relevant?

I think it is extremely relevant, because I think Malaysia is coming to a point where the younger generation realises more that democracy cannot function efficiently if the number in Opposition is so small. I think it is extremely relevant especially when you see a lot of issues coming up, you have seen a lot coming up recently. In Abdullah's time, a lot of issues have come up.

Have our politicians been able to keep up with the political changes, or is politics here still in the pre-Merdeka era?

It would appear where the Opposition is concerned, because of the numbers it is not easy to keep up but I can see in fact there is a lot of involvement internally, there is a lot of internal opposition within the Barisan government. I think that might answer your question because we never used to have that before. Now you can see where certain issues are so wanting of viewpoint, even the Barisan members will voice out their views even though it is in direct opposition with the government or Cabinet stand which is something that did not use to happen before.

It shows that there may be a little more political maturity in that sense, maybe moving on with the times.

DAP has always said that Malaysia should be Malaysian Malaysia instead of Malay supremacy, how do you see this as someone from the younger generation?

After the national convention, we have a new slogan Malaysia First, though Malaysian Malaysia is still there. Coming back to Malaysian Malaysia, I think that is certainly something the younger generation definitely can relate to. In fact, it is something that we can relate to more than the older generation.

In fact, Malaysian Malaysia is something which DAP has been propagating even before this generation. If you ask me, the government has actually adopted our slogan as it has progressively seen that we really need a multiracial and multicultural background. So where the current generation is concerned this is very relevant and not only trying to propagate Malaysian Malaysia but Malaysia First.

That's the stand we are taking, Malaysia First, we want Malaysia to be globally, in all senses, to be on top, we do not want to be left behind and I think that is the concept and agenda in DAP now, we want Malaysia to be first.

We feel all Malaysians will benefit if we have that sort of a calling, Malaysia First.

Are the people disillusioned that the Opposition has not been able to transform the Malaysian society?

I don't think they are disillusioned but in every election, there are certain factors which can sway the voters in a very, very significant way and, of course, DAP has always been very strong in northern areas. In 1990 we were two seats short of forming the state government. For instance, in 1999, because of the political affiliation with PAS that was the major contributing factor of the polling results of DAP. I don't think in that sense we had not been able to sway the voters to vote for the Opposition, just that certain political moves may have cost, at certain points of time, certain votes and therefore we lose out.

I still think there is a big need for a strong Opposition, that is what we are asking. In the next election, we will be concentrating on that angle.

Where do you think we are heading, especially with globalisation, barriers coming down, our jobs being taken up by foreigners, and more and more businesses heading to China and India, more and more people moving out, the brain drain, etc?

This is not an easy question, dangerous question (laughs). Of course what is happening must certainly be checked because we do not want Malaysia's plans to become a fully developed nation by 2020 to be hindered by these problems. That is the reason why it is still very important to check negative elements where governance is concerned, where at the end of the day, is a very significant factor, where the brain drain or the lack of confidence in the economy of the country.

End of the day, it still comes back to the need for good governance, political equality, where in my view, there is none. These things will automatically bring about an environment where people will be more confident to stay on in Malaysia or to come back to Malaysia. I am still very hopeful, because at the end of the day we are all Malaysians and whether I am in the Opposition or not, this is still my country and a lot of people have this misconception about us in the DAP, simply always criticising anything and everything that happens but I think that is not correct and is certainly very relevant to this question because if that was the case, then there is no reason for me to have any hopes for Malaysia at all because my criticism is just without any basis.

The reason for us to have all these criticisms is because we want to have a better government, better society and better economy in that sense. I am very hopeful. We are headed in the right direction now, comparatively, Abdullah has put in place certain ideas but whether or not they have been implemented is a separate question but those are ideas and concepts which are important.

How do you juggle work and family?

(Smiles) Just do my work from 8am to 8pm and go home, they will be there. I have an understanding family. I come from a family where my father used to be very busy, juggling between political, legal work and family. He used to be in two or three states in one day.

Of course, my family, my wife and two children aged three and two, have been very understanding so far. I travel to KL often, and share out the work with my three siblings. The four of us are actually doing work which my father alone used to handle. He was the person who could do that.

One of my brothers, Gobind, handles our Johor office, while the other brother Ram and my sister Sangeet who got called to the Bar last year helps out in KL. I handle Penang and Alor Star and also go down occasionally to KL.

My younger brother Ram Karpal is not doing law but some other insurance-related studies. All of us are running around keeping the firm my father started in 1974 in Alor Star and in Penang in 1978 and in early 80s in KL while JB was only opened in 2002.

How does it feel having to step into your father's rather large shoes?

It is impossible and very difficult to step into his shoes. He always told me that in whatever you do in life, try to do it to the best that you can. That is all everyone you are doing it for will expect and you have to. Even though you might lose a case but as long as you do the best that you can. I do not think of stepping into his shoes at all, I don't think anyone will be able to achieve his stature ever but I will do my best to achieve the things that he wanted to.

People always compare us, they say I am rather quiet compared to my father who has always been vocal about issues. I don't have that platform to make the kind of noise at the moment. Everybody does compare us, and that can be at times a big burden on my shoulder. It was for a time but no longer so now because I know for a fact that everyone is different in nature. Although they say like father like son, I have come out as a lawyer, and I am involved in the party. I may not be as vocal. I am the kind of person who speaks when spoken to, I am more of that nature.

Coming back to your question of being vocal on issues, the time is not right. You need the proper platform to do things like that and the platform I am in is the legal arena at the moment and I concentrate a lot on that. Cases I take on I give it my 150% when it comes to court work and all. When I need to, I will be do the necessary.

Do you take up controversial cases like your father?

His name is synonymous with challenging controversial cases. So we have no choice, not that we don't want to, but these cases come to us and it is a challenge that we take up. These are individuals who expect us to defend their rights and they have no one else to turn to.

In difficult cases, we still consult our father, the "legal dictionary" and we always consult him for those cases.

He is not as active as he used to be, he is 65. He misses being as active as he used to be, and it has been a year and four months since the accident, and without a doubt it has been very frustrating for him, especially a man like him. But he is a very strong person who has been able to accept and adapt and work within the constraints. I am happy that he is that very strong person, otherwise it would be very difficult to cope with the situation.