Ex-journalist called to testify at ‘Blackhole’ defamation suit

KUCHING: The trial hearing of ‘Blackhole’ defamation suit involving plaintiff State Financial Authority (SFA) and defendant Sarawak DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen continued yesterday with former journalist Joseph Tawie called in as witness.

Joseph, 74, writer of the article entitled ‘Taib under fire over missing RM11 bil’ at the material time said he used a pen name when attached to national news portal, Malaysiakini.

When cross examined by Chong, who is also the lawyer defending himself, Joseph said the article was written based on the pamphlet that Chong distributed during a press conference on Jan 2, 2013 which contained materials alleging that some RM11 billion were missing from the State coffer.

Joseph also told the court he did not verify the matter with former Chief Minister Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud (now Yang Di-Pertua Negeri) before writing the article.

Joseph also said he disagreed with Chong that his conduct was unethical when not verifying the matter with Taib before writing the article.

When Chong picked up some paragraphs from a book ‘The Broken Shield: The Dayak Dilemma’ written by Joseph, the witness denied that he harboured grudges against Taib just because he had written about a land owner dealing with Taib on native customary rights land.

Joseph also told the court that his materials were based on information he had received and also interviews.

Judicial Commissioner Alexander Siew How Wai presided over the case.

To date four witnesses including Joseph had testified in court.

Other witnesses were a female reporter, a reader of Sin Chew Daily newspaper and former director of SFA’s Finance Administration Unit.

SFA was represented by State Legal Counsel Dato Sri JC Fong and legal officers Mohamad Adzrul Adzlan, Oliver Chua and Voon Yan Sin.

Chong, also Stampin MP and Kota Sentosa assemblyman, was assisted by counsels Chong Siew Chiang and Michael Kong.

In 2013, Chong used the term ‘Blackhole’ to allege that RM11 billion had gone missing from the State coffer and some of it had been channelled to cronies of members of the Sarawak government and their family members.

This allegation prompted the SFA to file the defamation suit at the High Court Registry on April 3, 2013 against Chong.