The men who completed Karpal's farewell

A sea of people chanted the name of the recently departed man as the family sung out solemn prayers at the Batu Gantung cemetery.

This was the final farewell, the end of the journey of a revered Malaysian icon.

Pausing to look at the scene not too far from him, a young Chinese man then strode across the Hokkien crematorium, returning to his routine work that hot Sunday afternoon. Just moments earlier, 33-year-old Ang Leik Hong completed an important task: he was in charge of cremating the body of veteran politician Karpal Singh.

“Do I know him? Of course I know him. He is a very nice man. Very strong. He keeps the justice,” the cremation worker said.

Ang is shy and boyish-looking. He wore the light blue collared t-shirt that was the uniform of his workplace.

As he talked, he continued his brisk walk, beads of sweat covered his entire face as he carried several black plastic bags containing items important for another family’s funeral. “Sorry I can’t stop too long to talk, I have the next family to deal with,” he said.

However, he started to describe in detail his job which he has been doing for three years: There are only four people in the entire cemetery who are ‘qualified’ to operate the crematory.

One has to make sure the temperature is right, and everything is in place before the casket containing the body is pushed into the machine. A body takes between two to three hours to completely burn in the furnace.

“You need to know what kind of temperature required, you press the button, key in the password, and it starts,” said the former printing technician. One needs to train for at least three months, before being allowed to become a cremation technician, he said.

“His life… he became such a success, it is such a waste that he is gone,” said the man who had handled the cremations of a few Datuks and CEOs, but 'nobody as big as Karpal'.

“He (Karpal) has spent his life serving many, I am glad I can do this little bit with the strength that I have to serve him," said Ang, who was only entasked with the work after his 'sifu' (master) fell sick.

Ang’s colleague, who only wanted to be known as Lim, admitted that the cemetery has never seen a funeral so grand: with so many wreaths of flowers and such a huge crowd. He said that it was even bigger than another important Penang leader, Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu.

“I’ve never met him. But of course I know him. He fights for the poor people, he fights for justice. Everyone knows that. He was a Malaysian hero,” said Lim, who worked at the registration counter.

“I feel the pain. The people are in pain. Of course, we don’t know if we can ever find another one like him. It’s very hard.”,” he said.

“I just wish he would just be born again, reincarnate and come back,” he said with a sad chuckle.

Admitting that he only knew Karpal from stories told to him even though he lived in Jelutong and Gelugor— the constituencies Karpal was elected as a representative — Lim said that the legend was a indeed learned man.

“My auntie told me about him. He once said ‘no money no talk’ to those who wanted free legal advice from him. It’s true. But don’t take this wrongly, there is a lesson to be learnt from those wise words. He knows things. I believe he is one who is capable of telling us the hard truth,” said Lim.

“I only saw him from a distance, once. He was waving. This is the first time I meet him so close, here at our cemetery. But he is dead,” he said.

Karpal would have turned 74 on June 28. He and his personal assistant Michael Cornelius Selvam Vellu, 39, died in a road accident four days ago.