Kit Siang's defamation suit against Hanif Omar begins Sept 20

KUALA LUMPUR: The hearing of veteran DAP politician Lim Kit Siang's suit against the former Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tun Hanif Omar over alleged defamatory words made at a convention in 2018 will commence on Sept 20 at the High Court here.

Lim's lawyer, Sangeet Kaur Deo when contacted by Bernama today, said the trial dates have been set for Sept 20-23, to be heard before Judicial Commissioner Quay Chew Soon, with case management fixed for Sept 15.

Lim, who filed the suit on Oct 17, 2018, claimed that Mohammed Hanif, as the defendant, had made defamatory statements while delivering a speech at the "Karamah Bangsa" Convention held at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Shah Alam on Sept 6, 2018, which was published by Malay daily, Sinar Harian on the same day.

In his statement of claim, Lim alleged that the defamatory words, among others, intended to mean that he (Lim) planned to instruct the DAP to separate Peninsular Malaysia into two parts based on race, and to split the Malay and Chinese communities.

Lim also claimed that the second defendant in the suit (Sinar) had acted maliciously by publishing the defamatory words.

As such, he is demanding that the defendants submit an apology and withdraw the defamatory words in addition to seeking general, aggravated and exemplary damages as well as an injunction order to prevent the defendant or his agent from repeating or republishing the defamatory words.

-- BERNAMA