PADANG SERAI, Nov 17 — Close to a thousand people visited the home of M. Karupaiya today to pay their last respects to the incumbent Padang Serai MP.

The 69-year-old will be remembered as one of the most hardworking MPs who tirelessly raised the people’s issues in Parliament.

"We missed him a lot when he became a politician. Always doing Anwar’s bidding,” Lt Col. Morgan told Malay Mail when met at Karupaiya’s home today, alluding to Pakatan Harapan (PH) president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

"He’d be hanging out with us, but as soon as he (Anwar) called, Karu would go. He knew it was something important.

"He really changed after he got heavy into politics, but we saw how good he was and it’s sad he’s gone,” said the former Navy man.

First Officer in the Armed Forces M. Nagaraju said Karupaiya was highly committed and never waned in his beliefs.

"He was a Malaysian first and was disappointed with how the country was run and wanted to make a difference.

"His joining politics seemed natural as he was always championing some kind of rights be it for the veterans or the people of Padang Serai,” he told Malay Mail.

Another army vet V. Manogaran said, "He was very helpful in any sense. You have issues can see him, need some financial aid also no problem. He wanted to set an example of a good MP who always attends Parliament and that was his drive.

"It’s sad to see him go.”

Karupaiya had been working the election trail as he was defending his Padang Serai seat in the upcoming 15th general elections (GE15).

He was the favourite to reclaim the seat from his competitors Barisan Nasional’s Datuk C. Sivarraajh, Perikatan Nasional’s Azman Nasrudin, Pejuang’s Hamzah Abdul Rahman, Warisan’s Bakri Hashim, and independent candidate Sreanandha Rao.

He had attended the Ceramah Megah in Kulim on November 14 where he looked out of breath towards the end of the event.

Yesterday, news broke that he had suffered a fall after the event and was hospitalised.

He was pronounced dead at 2.20pm yesterday due to heart complications.

"So sad to see him go, the one guy who never missed a Parliament date unless he was very sick and always brought up important issues,’ said local resident Wong Kai Chow, 45.

"People in this area never used to watch Parliament until we started seeing him always pop up on YouTube when it was ‘live’. We learnt a lot,” he said.

For Lakshmy Roohini, 60, she expressed concern if the next Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate could match Karupaiya’s tenacity and energy.

"Who is there anyway? He leaves a huge hole in this area representation-wise that they (PH) could lose the seat. Let’s see how it goes,” she said.

Close to 100 members of the Malaysian Armed Forces Indian Veterans Association were in attendance to send off Karupaiya with a guard of honour.

They came from all over Malaysia.

"One-of-a kind guy,” said Major Ramadasu.

"You will never find someone who doesn’t care about himself at the age of 69 and puts others first.

"He didn’t need to do any of that. He could have retired peacefully, but no. He was not happy with the way we are governed and wanted to make a difference.

"I believe he has, and his imprint will forever be felt here,” he added.