Isma to face Marina in defamation suit over ‘mastermind’ claims

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 26 ― Prominent activist Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir has filed a lawsuit against Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma), accusing the Muslim activist group of defaming her and portraying her as being anti-Islam.

In the civil suit against Isma and 16 of its office-bearers, Marina claimed that the group had falsely accused her of being a “mastermind” of local human rights group, Coalition of Malaysian NGOs in the Universal Periodic Review Process (Comango).

The lawsuit ― which was filed by the daughter of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad last month ― came up for case management in the Kuala Lumpur High Court today.

When contacted by The Malay Mail Online today, Marina confirmed in a text message that the next case management is set to be conducted on March 10.

Citing her lawyers, Marina said the judge also ordered the defendants to file and serve their defence by March 10.

In her statement of claim sighted by The Malay Mail Online, Marina cited Isma’s alleged defamatory claim in leaflets that had featured her photograph and named her as a purported “dalang” or mastermind of Comango.

Isma has also claimed that Comango is made up of 54 “anti-Islam” non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

The prominent activist also cited an article by Isma, which reported that 70,000 of these leaflets were distributed last November 8 in mosques throughout the country, with the same article naming her as a board member of Sisters in Islam (SIS), a non-governmental organisation supporting Comango.

The article allegedly slammed Comango for calling for the freedom to renounce Islam; the protection of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) rights; the removal of Malay privileges; the freedom to embrace Shiah teachings; and the right for Catholics to refer to God as “Allah”, among others.

In the statement, Marina said that the defendants’ claims would be taken to mean that she has a dubious character and hid behind others as a “mastermind”, was “anti-Islam”, lacked integrity and did not respect the Federal Constitution.

In arguing that Isma’s statements were false, she stressed that she was not involved in Comango’s report despite her post as board member of SIS, adding that she was not a mastermind behind Comango.

Marina also accused Isma of maliciously carrying out a “personal attack” by targeting her instead of directing its alleged defamatory statements against the entire board of SIS.

In maintaining that the defendants were acting out of malice, she listed down the chronology of events last November where they had purportedly continued to repeat their claims and attack her.

Despite her November 11 clarification that Isma’s claims were false, the group had repeated its statements on the same day, she said.

Even after her second clarification on November 13, Isma had made other accusations against her in an article a day later, she said.

On November 15, Isma reported that it had distributed an additional 10,000 copies of the leaflets and further made them available online two days later, while encouraging group members to post them on their personal Facebook pages, Marina said.

All 16 of the Isma office-bearers sued had failed or refused to apologise and retract their statements despite letter of demands issued by her lawyers last year, she said.

In a December 20 letter, Isma had through its lawyers replied that it stood by its allegations and did not admit that its statements had defamed her, Marina said.

Marina is now seeking damages and a permanent injunction to block the defendants from further publishing or spreading the alleged defamatory statements.

Among other things, she also wants a court order to compel the defendants to publish a full retraction of its statements and an apology in local dailies The Malay Mail, Berita Harian, Utusan Malaysia and Isma’s own website and Facebook page.

ISMA has been at the forefront of attempts to discredit Comango, which has also come under fire from other Muslim activists here who claim the group’s human rights recommendations to the United Nations ran counter to the “true” teachings of Islam and the sovereignty of the Federal Constitution.

Comango countered that their report was merely an effort to encourage Malaysia to prove its commitment towards improving the lot of all Malaysians via the Universal Periodic Review (UPR).