KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin succeeded in preventing senior lawyer Datuk Muhammad Shafee Abdullah from representing himself in a civil suit.
The High Court yesterday allowed a preliminary objection by Raja Petra's team of lawyers who argued that Muhammad Shafee or his firm could not act for him.
Raja Petra was represented by counsel Manjeet Singh Dhillon, J. Chandra and Amarjit Singh Sidhu.
Manjeet submitted before judge Datuk Tee Ah Sing that an advocate and solicitor should not appear in any matter in which he has direct pecuniary interest.
Speaking outside the courtroom, Manjit said that under the Legal Profession (Practice & Etiquette) Rules 1976, an advocate and solicitor could not appear in court in any case which he has reason to believe he would be a witness in the hearing. The objection was allowed by Tee.
With this, Muhammad Shafee will now have to appoint a counsel to represent him in the defamation suit he has filed against Raja Petra.
The court also fixed Oct 8 for the inter-parte hearing of the injunction applied by Muhammad Shafee to restrain Raja Petra from publishing defamatory articles about him.
In a statement by Muhammad Shafee, which was faxed to the New Straits Times, he said he would appoint a lawyer to represent him.
He said that in his submission in chambers, he had pointed out that the order granted by Tee on Aug 13 was valid.
"I explained to the court that the rule would be applicable only if the matter had become contentious or there was a possibility of me becoming a witness."
He added that Raja Petra had not bothered to enter "appearance" in this case, giving the appearance of "non-contest", as he had done in two other defamation suits and judgment in default were granted.
He said since Raja Petra wished to contest the suit, he (Muhammad Shafee) would appoint his own counsel as he wished to be the main witness for himself.
"I am happy with the proceedings as the contested suit will provide the perfect avenue for me to prove the fallacy in the allegations Raja Petra made on his website," said Muhammad Shafee.
The civil case was following a writ of summons taken out by Muhammad Shafee over the articles which Raja Petra had posted on his blog at the Malaysia Today website on Aug 6, 7 and 11.
On Aug 13, the High Court ordered Raja Petra to reveal the source of the allegations he made against Muhammad Shafee in the articles.
The order expired yesterday after the 21-day period.
The order had compelled Raja Petra to, within three days of its service on him, reveal the identities of visitors to his web portal who left comments and messages following the publishing of the articles.
The order also included several injunctions, the first of which directed Raja Petra to remove the defamatory articles from the web portal within two days, as well as other follow-up articles and comments posted by visitors.
In the articles, Raja Petra had accused Muhammad Shafee of masterminding the recent sodomy charge against PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The blogger, however, was adamant that he would not reveal his sources.
He also refused to accept the suit which Muhammad Shafee had personally served on him in court on Aug 15, which had led to a drama in the magistrate's courtroom where Raja Petra was present for another criminal defamation case.
Sushma Veera
NST online
03/09/08
PEOPLE'S POWER
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