A FALL during a 15th General Election (GE15) ceramah on Monday (Nov 14) has proven to be a costly ordeal for Pakatan Harapan (PH) incumbent Padang Serai MP Karupaiya Mutusami as he succumbed to the mishap yesterday (Nov 16).
What is sad is that the former army officer aged 69 who is seeking a re-election in GE15 was only days away to the national poll slated for this Saturday (Nov 19). And more so, the late Karupaiya was a very active MP in the Dewan Rakyat, always taking part in debates or asking questions.
But he breathed his last while been hospitalised following the fall which coincidentally took place during the visit of PH chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s to Kulim and Padang Serai on that fateful day.
While Karupaiya’s untimely demise would likely pave way for a Padang Serai election after Nov 19, his fellow PH comrade Lim Kit Siang, too, had a fortunately ‘small fall’ outside his hotel in Kota Kinabalu yesterday (Nov 16).
Well, the 81-year-old veteran lawmaker was fortunate that he was able still in ‘one-piece’ after the mishap especially when any fall for a person of his age could have dealt severe blow to the person.
Not intending ‘to mock’ his fall – as a physical fall for a man of his age is still a fall by any account – the retired DAP supremo was nevertheless quick to turn his fall into a political metaphor to convey the message that a wind of change is imminent for Malaysia’s future.
“I missed a step and fell outside my hotel in Kota Kinabalu but this is a small fall compared to the big fall Malaysia experienced in the last six decades,” he told a DAP ceramah in Bintulu last night (Dec 16).
“Or the bigger fall in three- or four-decades’ time when Malaysia would fall from a first-rate world-class country to a third-rate failed, rogue and kleptocratic state like Sri Lanka or Zaimbabwe.”
The veteran lawmaker and incumbent Iskandar Puteri MP added:
“Three persons saw me fall in Kota Kinabalu but some 10 billion people throughout the world in four decades will see Malaysia fall from a first-rate world-class plural nation 60 years ago to a third-rate failed, rogue and kleptocratic state in 2060.
“I am 81 years old and am not a candidate in the GE15 but I am as busy or even busier than a candidate in the two weeks between nomination to polling day on Nov. 19.”
Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) said in a statement that it will convene a special meeting tomorrow (Nov 18) to decide on the dates for the Padang Serai election.
According to the Article 11 (6) of the Elections (Conduct of Elections) Regulations 1981, the death of a candidate between nomination and polling would require the EC to start the process anew.
Karupaiya who was seeking re-election to a second term would have been engaged in a six-cornered fight against Barisan Nasional’s C. Sivarraajh, Azman Nasrudin (Perikatan Nasional), Hamzah Abdul Rahman (Pejuang), Bakri Hashim (Warisan), and independent candidate Sreanandha Rao. – Nov 17, 2022
