Lawyer wants injunction against posting defamatory statement on PM
PUTRAJAYA: The court should grant an interim interparte injunction to restrain Petaling Jaya Utara Member of Parliament (MP) Tony Pua Kiam Wee from posting any defamatory statement or video clip against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, the Court of Appeal heard yesterday.
Lawyer Datuk Wira Mohd Hafarizam Harun submitted that Najib would suffer immediate and irreparable injury and his reputation would be damaged if the alleged defamatory words or video clip was further published to an unlimited number of internet users.
“The order of the High Court judge should be upheld, without which, by the time the matter proceeds to trial, the damage to the respondent’s (Najib’s) reputation would be catastrophic and could not be compensated by an award of damages.
He said a letter of demand was issued by Najib’s solicitors on April 11, last year, demanding that Pua provide an undertaking not to repeat the allegations or make similar allegations but to date, the MP had not given any undertaking or replied to the letter.
Mohd Hafarizam was submitting in Pua’s appeal against a High Court decision on Aug 4, last year which granted Najib an interim interparte injunction to restrain Pua from posting defamatory statement or video clip against the Prime Minister.
He said Najib, who held the post of Prime Minister, Finance Minister, MP and Community leader, had the right to defend his dignity and reputation by appying to the court for an interim injunction.
He said the alleged defamatory words were published in Pua’s official Facebook site which was accessible to everyone who opened the site and the extent of circulation via the internet was enormous.
Earlier, Pua’s counsel, Gobind Singh Deo submitted that the High Court judge had applied the wrong test for an interim injunction in a defamation lawsuit as he failed to properly consider Pua’s pleaded defences to Najib’s claim.
He said the High Court decision granting the interim interparte injunction to Najib was plainly wrong and ought to be reversed.
“We say that the respondent (Najib) has made no atempt at all to discharge his burden. Indeed, apart from bare allegations, the respondent had failed to demonstrate or adduce any evidence to prove that the impugned words were obviously untrue or that the other defences raised by Pua were bound to fail,” said Gobind.
Najib sued Pua in his personal capacity, alleging that the latter had made defamatory statements against him on live video relating to the tabling of a Private Member’s Bill to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 or RUU355.
The Prime Minister claimed the video clip uploaded by Pua or his agents on the defendant’s official Facebook site, lasting two minutes and 21 seconds and entitled “BN Govt abandons all Bills to give precedence to PAS RUU355 Private Member’s Bill,” could be accessed widely and freely on the internet.
On April 21, last year, the High Court allowed Najib’s application for an ex-parte injunction to restrain Pua from further publishing similar or the same words.
The Court of Appeal’s threeman bench comprising Datuk Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, Puan Sri Zaleha Yusof and Datuk Yaacob Md Sam reserved decision on the appeal to a date to be fixed. - Bernama