KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 – The High Court here on Monday proposed that the defamation suit filed by Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak against former MCA president Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik be resolved through the mediation process. Counsel Datuk Mohd Hafarizam Harun, representing Najib, told reporters that the suggestion was made by judge Datuk John Louis O’hara when the matter came up before him in chambers.
Following that, both parties agreed to do so, but no date had been fixed for the mediation process to be held at the mediation centre here, he added. However, Mohd Hafarizam said the court set Feb 18 for case management to know the development of the mediation process.
He said if there is an interlocutory application to be submitted by the plaintiff (Najib), the court ordered that it be filed within 14 days from Monday. He said the plaintiff would also file the reply to the defence statement by Dr Ling on Tuesday. Najib filed the suit on Oct 27 last year, seeking, among others, an order for Dr Ling to issue a written apology to be published in newspapers or magazines to be identified by Najib, in a form and terms determined by the plaintiff (Najib).
In the statement of claim, Najib also sought an injunction to restrain Dr Ling, or through his servants or agents, from further speaking or publishing any defamatory article or any similar words defamatory to him. He also sought general, special, aggravated and exemplary damages, costs and other relief deemed fit by the court
Najib said Dr Ling had falsely and maliciously made slanderous statements against him while attending a ceremony at a university college here that were published in a news portal on Oct 3 via an article. The prime minister claimed that the defendant had uttered the defamatory words with malicious intention to put the plaintiff in the position of public scandal, contempt and odium.
