KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 — Utusan Malaysia was again forced to eat humble pie today when it had to apologise to senior PKR leader Senator Dr Syed Husin Ali for defaming him in a recent article.

The former PKR deputy president confirmed the apology on his Twitter profile this morning and said the Umno-owned daily had also been ordered to pay compensation for the offence.

“Utusan n Zamil buat fitnah konon aku trima Rm500k utk tutup Prm dan brcantum bagi menubuhkan Keadilan Rakyat. Pagi ini Utusan minta maaf,” he wrote.

[Translation: Utusan and Zamil defamed me to say I received RM500,000 to disband Parti Rakyat Malaysia and join with PKR. This morning, Utusan apologised]

He later said in a separate tweet that Zamil Ibrahim, a PKR-turned-KITA member, will be dealt with separately.

Utusan Malaysia, he added, had apologised to him in court and will subsequenty publish the apology.

According to a 2010 article on PAS organ Harakah Daily, Syed Husin had filed the suit against Utusan Malaysia over the report titled: “RM500,000: Syed Husin dicabar lapor polis” (“Syed Husin dared to lodge police report”) that was published on March 6 that year.

In the article, it was alleged that the PKR senator had been paid off by Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to dissolve PRM and expedite a merger with PKR.