New judge for Bersih chief’s suit

No reason given, says Maria’s lawyer

KUALA LUMPUR: A new judge has been assigned for Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah’s defamation suit against politician Datuk Seri Jamal Md Yunos, who allegedly implied the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections was an agent of the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

High Court judge Justice Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab is the new judge.

The suit is set for case management before deputy registrar Norfauzani Mohd Nordin on Nov 1.

Maria Chin’s lawyer Melissa Sasidaran revealed this to media here yesterday.

According to a letter from the court, the transfer was a directive from Federal Court judge Justice Azahar Mohamed on Oct 14.

“No reason was given,” added Melissa, who said the case was originally registered to be heard before High Court judge Justice S. Nantha Balan.

In her lawsuit, Maria Chin claimed Jamal had on Sept 28 falsely uttered slanderous words against Bersih during a press conference at the Putra World Trade Centre.

She said Jamal, who is president of the Coalition of Malay NGOs and the Sungai Besar Umno division chief, had also on Oct 4 uttered similar slanderous words against Bersih during a media conference at the Bukit Aman police headquarters compound.

She said the statements were later published in the print media news portals.

In her statement of claim filed on Oct 7, Maria Chin said Jamal’s words brought her to public scandal and tarnished her reputation and good name.

She said she sent a letter of demand through her solicitor on Oct 4 to Jamal asking for a retraction and an apology over the slanderous words.

However, she said, it was reported that Jamal had torn up the letter and flushed it down the toilet bowl while at the Umno building in Shah Alam the next day.

She is seeking general damages and aggravated damages as well as an injunction to stop Jamal from uttering or publishing similar words, either verbally, in the print media or via the Internet.