Police on duty until Karpal Singh's cremation - Penang police chief

More than 50 police officers and personnel were on duty throughout the four days people were paying their last respects to the late Bukit Gelugor member of parliament Karpal Singh until his cremation in the Batu Gantung Crematorium here, last Sunday.

Penang police chief Datuk Abdul Rahim Hanafi said personnel were also stationed at his residence at Jalan Utama and two mobile police stations deployed in the compound of Dewan Sri Pinang during the final paying of respects on Sunday.

"I ordered the traffic police to accompany the hearse when it arrived in Juru all the way to his house at Jalan Utama, on the day he passed away.

Two officers and 20 traffic police were also stationed there (Karpal Singh's residence) to direct traffic and maintain public order," he said.

He was speaking to reporters after launching the Blood Donation Campaign in conjunction with the 207th Police Day celebrations at the Penang police headquarters here today.

It was reported in the Malay Mail today that the state government had hit out at the police for failing to turn up as planned to control the massive crowd gathered at Dewan Sri Pinang to pay their last respects to Karpal Singh on Sunday.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng was quoted as saying that the state government would conduct a post-mortem to determine the reasons for the failure of the police to turn up.

Abdul Rahim said two officers and acting state Public Order and Traffic police chief DSP Abdul Rahim Md Din had also attended a meeting with the state government to discuss the final funeral procession route.

He said two officers and 20 traffic personnel were stationed on Sunday during Karpal Singh's funeral procession to the Batu Gantung Crematorium and more than 10 plain clothes policemen were on duty throughout the time people paid their last respect at the Dewan Sri Pinang.

Abdul Rahim said the traffic police were stationed at every junction along the funeral procession until it reached the crematorium namely, Lebuh Farquhar, Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, Jalan Larut, Jalan Burma, Jalan Perak, Jalan Macalister, Jalan Residensi, Jalan Utama and Jalan Scotland.

"The traffic flow was smooth throughout the funeral procession and there were no bad congestion. And so far we have not received any reports about any disturbances or incidents either.

"So I don't understand why the state government is saying the police were not on duty, that's not true. We have photographs to prove it, that the police did their duty to the public," he said.

Karpal Singh, 74, and his personal assistant Michael Cornelius, 39, died in an accident about 1.10 am at KM306.1 of the North-South Highway near Gua Tempurung, Kampar last Thursday.