Gobind Singh Deo

NRI lawyer Gobind Singh Deo becomes a cabinet minister in Malaysia

• Gobind Singh is a prominent and popular lawyer

• Gobind Singh Deo referred to as the “little lion of Puchong

On May 21, 2018,  Gobind Singh Deo, 45,  was sworn in as the minister of communications and multimedia. He is a prominent Malaysian lawyer and politician and the Member of Parliament for Puchong, Selangor. (DAP). Gobind Singh Deo is also the national legal bureau secretary of the Democratic Action Party (DAP}

“Media freedom is my priority,” after swearing-in ceremony as a minister of communications, Gobind Singh Deo told media. “ Malaysia’s controversial Anti-Fake News Act, adopted by the Najib-led government just last month that his bill gives the government sweeping powers to imprison those charged with creating or spreading “fake news” for up to six years. The law’s adoption was widely viewed as a threat to free speech in the country.”

Gobind Singh  added, “We have to find ways to improve the freedom of press in the country.”

• In 1996, Gobind was admitted to the Malaysian Bar
• In 2008, he was elected to Parliament on the ticket of Democratic Action Party (DAP}
• He’s often referred to as the “little lion of Puchong
• In 2009 he was suspended from Parliament for 12 months for calling the Prime Minister, Najib Razak, a "murderer" in a parliamentary debate and insulting the deputy speaker.
• He later won a legal challenge seeking to be paid his normal remuneration for his period of suspension
• In 2013 he was re-elected to Parliament

His brothers, Ramkarpal Singh and Jagdeep Singh Deo, are also DAP politicians.

• In 1890, they built Malaysia’s first gurdwara in the state of Selangor.
• Malaysia has nearly around 1,00,000 Sikh population or or around 0.25% of the population.
• Most of the Sikhs would migrate from India to Malaya as soldiers and policemen working for the British.
• Authors argued that the Sikhs played a key role in the country’s economic development. Due to background  in agriculture, they started  transportation  business owned and operated bullock carts until 1920 and later launched buses companies.  Now 2nd and third  generation expanded into fields like law, medicine, academia and politics.

Gobind Singh Deo is son of late Karpal Singh, the “tiger of Jelutong.” Karpal Singh  was a prominent and popular lawyer and  member of parliament representing Jelutong, a constituency in Penang in northwestern Malaysia.Karpal Singh Ram Singh was a Malaysian politician and a lawyer by profession. He is the current chairman of the Democratic Action Party and a member of Parliament for Bukit Gelugor, Penang. He won the seat in the 2004 general election. He is an ethnic Punjabi and a prominent lawyer in Malaysia, well known for his expertise in the field of litigation. His reputation has earned him the nickname Tiger of Jelutongï.Singh defended the Australian drug trafficker Kevin Barlow who was executed in Malaysia in 1986. On 17 April 2014, Karpal died in a car crash.