RPK ordered to pay RM300,000 to lawyer
KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has ordered Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamarudin to pay RM300,000 to lawyer Datuk Seri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah in damages for defaming him in three articles five years ago.
Muhammad Shafee succeeded in getting a judgment against Raja Petra in 2011 over three defamatory articles which were posted on the Malaysia Today website without having to go for a full trial.
High Court judge Justice John Louis O’Hara had in February 2011 ruled that all offending words in the articles defamed Muhammad Shafee and ordered for damages to be assessed.
Yesterday, senior assistant registrar Farah Hana Hashim said that the award was due to Muhammad Shafee’s position and standing as a lawyer with wide experience and was holding positions in various fields.
Farah Hana said that she took into account Muhammad Shafee’s conduct, who had never in any way provoked Raja Petra to make the defamatory statements.
She said that the statements carries the imputations which had gravely defamed Muhammad Shafee and destroyed his reputation, goodwill and honour not only as a professional lawyer but as a reputable person.
“The defendant (Raja Petra) ought to have known the importance of one’s reputation and goodwill which took years to establish. The defendant’s conduct in maliciously publishing the offending passages had failed to show repentance for what he did from the time of the libel to the moment of the verdict,” she said.
She said that Raja Petra also did not make any attempt to tender any apology or retract the said offending passages.
“He permitted the matter to be dragged all the way to the court, to the detriment of the plaintiff,” she said.
She directed Raja Petra to pay an interest of 5% per annum since last year plus costs.
The lawyer had filed the suit against Raja Petra, 60, in August 2008 for posting the articles on the website on Aug 6, 7 and 11, the same year.
In a statement of defence filed on Nov 25, 2008, Raja Petra denied that the three articles were false, malicious or defamatory of the lawyer.