Utusan ‘twisted’ my story, ‘YBJ’ author tells court
Chamil said his character had only resembled Kok. — File picKUALA LUMPUR, Oct 8 ― Former magazine editor Datuk Chamil Wariya today accused Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia of surreptitiously changing the text in his 2008 short story to drive a wedge between him and veteran DAP lawmaker Teresa Kok, leading to him being sued for defamation alongside the newspaper.
The Malay daily had published a controversial short story in its weekend edition on October 12 four years ago, attributed to Chamil and titled “Politik Baru YBJ (New Politics of YBJ)”, in which the main character who bore a remarkable resemblance to the Seputeh MP was assassinated.
“I regret that Utusan had edited my short story from its original form in an unprofessional and unethical manner which is beyond my knowledge and it was done without my approval. I am not responsible for this,” Chamil was reported by news portal Malaysiakini as saying in a four-page statement of apology to Kok at the High Court.
The statement was read aloud in court today by his lawyer Zalil Mohd Mess.
“In my work sent to the Mingguan Malaysia editor I clearly stated the difference in the YBJ character and that of the Seputeh MP. In my original work, it is stated YBJ only resembles YB Teresa Kok but YBJ is not Teresa Kok,” the statement said.
In the story, YBJ was killed by a youth with a pistol, who shot her repeatedly through her heart.
The short story had drawn condemnation from DAP opposition leader Lim Kit Siang who had raised it in Parliament while debating the 2009 Budget.
The Ipoh-Timor MP accused the paper of inciting its readers to kill a lawmaker.
Chamil, who is also Malaysian Press Institute chief executive, accused the newspaper of having tarnished his reputation.
He was also reported to have said he had not been paid an honorarium for his short story.
The RM30 million defamation suit against both Chamil and Utusan Malaysia was settled out of court after the paper agreed to pay RM50,000 in costs as part of the settlement and the publisher has also agreed to carry an apology in Mingguan Malaysia, Kok’s lawyer Sankara Nair was reported saying.
Nair told the court his client was not seeking any cost from Chamil.
Utusan’s lawyer, TKB Mohana Kumar, was reported to have objected to Chamil’s remarks and wanted the court to record his objection.
