Karpal to Zaid: Go learn English

He says he was warning the Kita chief against committing contempt of court, not threatening his life.

KUALA LUMPUR: In an acidic response to Zaid Ibrahim’s police report against him, DAP chairman Karpal Singh today told the Kita leader to get a “crash course in the English language”.

Zaid lodged the report last Saturday, claiming that Karpal had threatened him after he had urged PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim to provide DNA samples to prove his innocence in the ongoing sodomy trial.

Karpal, who leads Anwar’s defence team in the case, had said Zaid should “not fish in troubled waters; it is a deadly risk and the consequences can be equally deadly”.

Zaid said he saw the statement as a serious threat. “The word ‘deadly’ in any dictionary gives the meaning of causing or bringing death,” he said.

Karpal described Zaid’s police report as “frivolous” and said it was obvious that “fishing in troubled waters refers to the law of contempt being defied and the risk and consequences of committing contempt of court could, as a consequence, make one liable to a fine or imprisonment.

“After all, Justice Mohamed Zabidin Mohd Diah has reminded us in open court that anyone committing an act of contempt in the ongoing Anwar Ibrahim trial will face the music.”

Karpal also said he was “seriously considering” citing Prime Minister Naijb Tun Razak for contempt of court for publicly urging Anwar to surrender his DNA samples. - FMT