Selangor executive councillor and Seputeh MP Teresa Kok today filed a RM30 million defamation suit against former Selangor menteri besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo and Utusan Malaysia over the azan controversy.
The suit was filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court at noon by her lawyer Sankara Nair. This is the third suit filed by Kok against the Umno-owned Malay daily but the first against Mohd Khir who is now the Selangor state assembly opposition leader.
Previously on Oct 9, Kok had filed another RM30 million suit against Utusan Malaysia and its columnist Mohd Zaini Hassan.
Kok had claimed that the Malay daily and Mohd Zaini had defamed her in an article published on Sept 10.
Kok was embroiled in a major controversy following Mohd Khir’s claim that she had sought for the lowering of the volume of azan at a mosque in Puchong and Kota Damansara.
The matter was then raised by Zaini in his article but Kok denied this. The Puchong mosque’s committee also dismissed the allegation.
The issue was among others which had led to her brief detention under the Internal Security Act in September.
On Dec 12, she filed a separate RM30 million defamation suit against the same daily and prominent writer Chamil Wariya over the publication of a short story titled 'Politik baru YB J' which appeared on Oct 12 in Mingguan Malaysia.
'False and scurrilous' allegations
In Kok's latest tatement of claim, she named Mohd Khir and Utusan Melayu (M) Sdn Bhd as the defendants.
The politician is seeking RM30 million in compensatory damages, aggravated and exemplary damages and an injunction to restrain the two defendants from publishing or disseminating the defamatory words.
Kok accused Mohd Khir of making the defamatory statements in his blog following a reply to a question on the issue.
She alleged that Mohd Khir was also quoted by another blog pembelamelayu.com, making 'false and scurrilous' allegations against her that she had submitted, supported and endorsed a petition which alleged that azan at the mosque as "disturbing the peace" of local residents.
Following this, Mohd Khir urged the Pakatan Rakyat-led Selangor government not to concede to purported moves by 'a certain party' to disallow azan emanating from loudspeakers of mosques in Puchong and Kota Damansara, which was published the next day in several newspapers including Utusan Malaysia under the title 'Ada usaha larang azan di masjid-masjid Selangor' (There are efforts to prevent azan in Selangor mosques).
Kok said that she wrote in her own blog Teresakok.com that Selangor Umno was twisting the facts.
She also stated that PAS Kota Raja MP Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud lodged a police report against Mohd Khir for misrepresenting the issue and making false and serious allegations.
A mosque official from Kota Damansara also denied the Utusan Malaysia report dated Sept 8, 2008 and lodged a police report stating that the azan was stopped because of a faulty loudspeaker system and not because of the petition.
Kok also relied on several Malaysiakini reports to support her statement of claim.
'Baseless untruths'
She also claimed that the author of the pembelamelayu blog had issued a statement on Sept 12, apologising for the misunderstanding.
She claimed that Khir's reply in his blog dated July 9, 2008 and the Sept 8 article in Utusan Malaysia had represented the meaning or imputation that she is a racist, a religious and racial bigot, an untrustworthy person and a bad or racist politician.
She contended that the allegations are 'baseless untruths, capricious, wholly unjustified and unwarranted and instigated public hatred, angst and ill-will' against her.
Utusan Malaysia has also filed a suit against Kok for allegedly defaming the company when she accused the Malay daily of distorting her statements about the food she was served while under ISA detention.
Kok, who was present at the filing, said she had to resort to legal action as the parties concerned failed to apologise.
"As a result of the issue, I was detained under ISA while those who made the allegations did not face any action," she said.
PAS Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad, who was also present, called on the authorities to take action against Mohd Khir for allegedly stoking hatred, religious and racial sentiments.
"The authorities should have charged Mohd Khir under the Sedition Act. We fully support Kok’s action as numerous police reports were made stating that such allegations were not true. Mohd Khir's statement had disrupted national unity and created racial tension," he said.
Meanwhile, Sankara said Kok will also file a suit against the government for her 'unlawful' ISA detention and also against a poet on the same issue.
Hafiz Yatim
23/12/08
1 comment:
Let the Games begin. The new Year certainly will keep our legal eagles busy and judges on the hop. Wow! Bring it on UMNO.
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