Wikipedia:Peer review/Karpal Singh/archive1

Karpal Singh

This peer review discussion has been closed.
I've listed this article for peer review because I intend to nominate it for GA status in the future and would like some suggestions on how to improve it further. There are a couple of issues I would like the reviewer to specifically examine:

• Completeness – is the coverage of the article broad enough?
• Structure – are the sections appropriately divided?
• Variety of sources – the article mainly references news articles, some journals, but few books. Judging by what's already in the article, is the variety of sources sufficient?

Thanks, Yk³ talk · contrib 05:29, 10 June 2011 (UTC)

Comments by Chipmunkdavis

Short article, but well sourced. I made some changes as I went through, mostly minor copyediting etc. Feel free to revert it if I make a mistake.

I'll post my responses now, but make the relevant changes later. Thank you for reviewing. - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

Lead

• I'm not sure if the s/o abbreviation should be used, it would be more understandable if spelled out.
  • I would dispense with the s/o completely since he's almost never referred to as Karpal Singh s/o Ram Singh. - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)
• The sentence "Shifting between courtrooms and parliament, he is known as a fiery debater, which has gotten him into trouble with authorities on occasion." seems slightly WP:PEACOCKy.
  • Agreed. - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)
• I removed the word "strict" in front of the Internal security act, as the word doesn't add much information and is a subjective judgement, and therefore often not that WP:NPOV.
  • Agreed. - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)
• The lead could do with some expansion. I recommend adding a sentence or two about his early life, and some more information on political/legal views.
  • Will work on that. - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

Early life and Education

• I added Ram Singh as the father's name here for clarification.
• The wikilink to India is slightly anachronous. Perhaps British India may be better?
• The date he was born should be included here.

— Agree to all of the above. - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

• When did he study at St. Xavier's Institution?
• When did he obtain his Bachelor of Laws?

— Hard to find out the exact dates, but I don't think they're that important. - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

• Is there something special about taking seven years to graduate?
  • I think the standard law student takes 3-4 years to graduate. He admitted to being a slacker. - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)
• Some information about ethnicity should be included here, this being Malaysian politics after all.
  • Yeap. - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

Legal Career

• What is the "Penang bar"? (pardon my ignorance)
  • That was quoted verbatim from the source. It's probably the Penang branch of the Malaysian Bar. I'll replace that with just the Malaysian Bar if it's confusing. - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)
• "'He started his legal firm, Messrs Karpal Singh & Co., in 1970 and is well-known for his expertise in the field of litigation" Should these sentences be connected? I don't see how the legal firm connect through and to his well-known expertise. It's especially confusing as chronology is being mixed with current status.
  • Ok. Will clarify that. - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)
• The use of the word "apparently" makes the story of the chinese boy unreliable. Who made this apparent?
  • The incident definitely happened. What can't be confirmed is whether Karpal's reasoning that the event would be politically explosive (as he claimed afterwards) actually convinced the king, hence the word apparently. - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)
• I'm not sure about whether "(See below)" and similar instructions are favoured under the MOS. Either way, should not impede GA status.
  • I think it's useful and would apply WP:IAR here. - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

Political Career

• When he joined the DAP, when "citing the party's multiracial stance" was he citing this as a reason for joining? If so, clarify.
• State that Alor Setar is in Kedah earlier, as it seems like it is in Penang by the text.
• The second paragraph is unsourced.

— Will work on the above. - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

• The word "allegedly" is again used at the end of the entry into politics section. If this is alleged, state by whom.
  • Just quoting from the source. - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

• "He was released briefly (a few hours) in March 1988 in response to a habeas corpus application, and remained in prison until January 1989." This sentence needs clarification. Was he released for a few hours, after a few hours? Who filed the application, and why was it rejected?
  • It wasn't rejected. It was accepted, he was released for a few hours, and then they rearrested him. I will rewrite that sentence because it is confusing. - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

• How could Karpal lose a seat along with an opposition leader?
  • Karpal and Lim Kit Siang (the opposition leader) both lost their seats in 1999. - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

• "a 1,261-majority win" means what? He won by that amount? Out of how many?
  • Means he won by 1,261 votes. I think that's a pretty standard way of putting it in parliamentary politics (same goes with the UK). - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

• Instead of just saying "the accident" it may be better to quickly clarify what happened.
  • Yeap. - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

Other sections and misc

• I would combine the Political Views section with the Political Career section, perhaps using the general views as an introduction to the section and shifting examples into where they chronologically belong.
  • Agreed. - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

• The accident and disability section should probably go into personal life, seems WP:UNDUE as its own section to me.
  • Agreed. - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

• Is Gurmit Kuar Thai?
  • She's probably a Malaysian citizen. - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

• What does Man Karpal currently do?
  • Don't know. I can only follow where the sources go. - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

• Reference date formats need to be standardised. Perhaps shifting them all to day month year would be a good course, this being a Malaysian article. Both dates and accessdates should have the same format.
  • Yeap. It's my fault for switching my date format sometime last year. Gonna be a pain in the rear end to fix them. - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

The article seems quite well covered overall. I however can't shake the impression it seems slightly one-sided, which I guess is to be expected. Perhaps temper all the positive quotes with some by his opposition. Anyway, these are just my comments, you may agree or disagree as you will. I have this page watchlisted if there are any questions, reply under a bullet or under here. Good luck, Chipmunkdavis (talk) 04:57, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the refreshing perspective. I completely agree that it's too one-sided. The language is mostly neutral but most of the coverage focuses on what his supporters would want to read (very subtle POV), something I did not previously realise. Most of my future contributions will be focused on negative coverage of him. - Yk³ talk · contrib 05:45, 11 June 2011 (UTC)