Decision on bid to strike out Syed Husin’s defamation suit on July 27
KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 — The High Court here has set July 27 for it decision on an application to strike out a defamation suit filed by Dr Syed Husin Ali against Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Bhd and two others.
Judicial Commissioner Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera set the date after hearing submissions from the contesting parties today.
Utusan Melayu, the Utusan Group's Editor-in-Chief Datuk Abdul Aziz Ishak and Kulim-Bandar Baharu Datuk Zulkifli Noordin had filed the application to strike out the RM10 million defamation suit in May.
Syed Husin, 76, former president of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), filed the suit in on Jan 27 seeking RM10 million in damages, interest, costs and other relief besides and injunction to prevent the defendants from further publishing defamatory statements on him.
In his statement of claim, Syed Husin had alleged that Utusan Melayu and Abdul Aziz had maliciously published a defamatory report about him titled "Zul Noordin Nafi Dakwaan Syed Husin" (Zul Noordin Denies Syed Husin's Allegations) in Utusan Malaysia's edition on Nov 20 last year.
Syed Husin further claimed that Zulkifli, in his personal blog, had posted the same article on his person blog but with a different title - "Anjing-anjing Pencen"(Pensioned Dogs).
In their affidavit-in-reply filed on Feb 29, Utusan Melayu dan Abdul Aziz denied Syed Husin's allegations, contending that they merely republished what was posted by Zulkifli in his blog.
They further claimed that they had done so with good intentions in the interest of the public.
Zulkifli claimed that the article was fair comment and in the public interest. — Bernama
