An Indian-origin lawmaker, Gobind Singh Deo has become the first member of the Sikh minority community in Malaysian history to be appointed as a federal minister.
The 45-year-old lawyer was sworn-in as the country’s Communications and Multimedia Minister along with another politician of Indian descent, in the newly-elected Pakatan Harapan coalition's cabinet led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who himself has Indian ancestors.
The other Indian-origin leader to be inducted in the cabinet was M. Kulasegaran also from the Democratic Action Party who has been allotted the Human Resource portfolio.
M Kulasegaran (centre) at the swearing-in ceremony Source: Twitter
While his late father Karpal Singh Deo was a well-known lawyer and member of parliament, four of his five siblings hold key positions within the Democratic Action Party.
Late Karpal Singh Deo Source: Facebook
Mr Deo was first elected to the Parliament in the 2008 federal elections followed by which he was re-elected to the lower house in 2013 before winning by a wide margin earlier this year.
The outspoken leader had created ripples back in 2009 when he was suspended from the parliament for a year without pay and privileges for accusing the then deputy prime minister of being involved in a murder case.
Although there are fifteen other MPs of Indian descent in the Malaysian Parliament, Mr Deo is the only Sikh member- a clincher for the minority community which accounts for 0.25 per cent of the total population in the Muslim majority country.
The news was received with jubilation by members of the Sikh community across the globe, many of whom took to twitter to congratulate the leader.
