Karam Singh Veriah - Misplaced Pages

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Karam Singh Veriah (October 26, 1936 - January 22, 1994), was a socialist politician from Malaysia.

He became the youngest MP to be elected when he won the Damansara seat at 23 in the 1959 elections, representing Parti Rakyat Malaysia which was then part of the Socialist Front coalition.

He simultaneously won the Serdang seat in the Selangor state assembly.Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page without content in them (see the help page).

In 1966, he was detained without trial for four years under Malaysia’s Internal Security Act.

Upon his release, he continued working as a lawyer and activist but eventually died of a heart attack in 1994.

Career

Karam was the eldest in a family of five boys and four girls was born on 26 October 1936, in Seremban.

His father, Kaher Singh Veriah, was a clerk, who later studied law and joined MIC. He was elected as Port Dickson assemblyperson in the 1955 elections prior to Merdeka. Kaher died in a car accident in 1964.

Karam studied at King George School in Seremban. He did his Senior Cambridge at 15 and completed law studies by 19 at Gray’s Inn, London. But the rules of the time barred him from practising until he was 21.

He then returned to Malaya and threw himself into electoral politics as a member of the Socialist Front.

In the 1959 elections, he contested the Damansara parliamentary seat against MCA’s Lee Eng Teh. He won decisively by garnering 9,026 votes compared to Lee’s tally of 5,653.

Karam also won the Serdang state assembly seat by defeating another MCA man Chan Chee Hong by a majority of 1,889 votes. He polled 5,883 votes compared to Chan's 3,994.

Karam was also vice-president of PRM during the time of Ahmad Boestamam's leadership. However he did not defend his seats in the 1964 election which was held soon after the formation of Malaysia.

In 1966, he was detained for four years in solitary confinement under the ISA for leading a march of sacked rubber plantation workers from Bukit Asahan Estate in Malacca to Kuala Lumpur.

His party colleague Dr Syed Husin Ali said Karam was a gentle speaker although he could be fiery in Parliament.

“Just as Mahatma Gandhi became an activist in South Africa and then returned to India, Karam also went back to India,” said Syed Husin.

Karam brought his family to India and took up the cause of low-ranking police officers.

However, his successes in agitation got him expelled from India and he was denied entry for many years.

In 1985, Karam briefly joined the DAP splinter party Socialist Democratic Party, which was led by former Menglembu MP Fan Yew Teng.

Karam passed away in New Dehli in the mid-1990s, aged 57.

Personal life

He was married to Harbans Kaur Muker, who worked as a temporary teacher at Assunta Primary School during his detention. She passed away on March 6, 1973.

His daughter Harinder died controversially in Hong Kong on Jan 2, 2000, which resulted in a long-running lawsuit to expose racial prejudice and medical negligence at a Hong Kong hospital.

His son Keshminder served as a municipal councillor in Subang Jaya appointed by Parti Keadilan Rakyat, following its breakthrough in the 2008 general elections in Malaysia. He died on Nov 28, 2023.