KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 — News portal Malaysiakini is denying any wrongdoing in two articles published on its website for which Umno and its president, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, are threatening to sue for defamation.
In a letter responding to the lawyer acting on behalf of Umno and Najib, the news portal’s legal affairs manager Shamini Arumugam also contended that the political party also has no standing to sue for libel.
It also insisted that contents of the two offending articles, “A case of the PM reaping what he sows” and “How much will Najib spend to keep Terengganu?”, constituted of readers’ remarks that came under the category of fair comment and not defamatory in nature.
“We are therefore unable to take down the Commentary Pieces as requested by you, and will assert that there is nothing for us to apologise for nor is there any compensation due to your clients,” the news portal said in a letter to Umno legal adviser Datuk Mohd Hafarizam Harun.
The alleged defamatory comments were on the recent Terengganu crisis, which nearly saw the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government lose its hold over the east coast state.
The incident was triggered by the resignations of three BN lawmakers led by former mentri besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Said, who left Umno to declare themselves independent representatives.
The trio’s resignations saw BN lose its slim majority in the 32-seat Terengganu assembly for just under 48 hours, before the lawmakers agreed to make good with the ruling party.
“The commentary pieces were published in good faith for the purpose of giving our readers an opportunity to voice their views in the spirit of our federal constitution which guarantees freedom of expression and the right to a free press,” Shamini said in the letter sighted by The Malay Mail Online.
Shamini, however, noted that in keeping with Malaysiakini’s policy on comments, the remarks by readers were neither censored nor monitored.
“Especially as your clients are the main political party currently in the coalition that is the government of Malaysia, it is a matter of considerable regret that your clients have resorted to threatening us with legal action rather than replying to the commentary pieces,” she added.
Najib, who is also Umno president, had in his personal capacity issued legal letters to Malaysiakini on Thursday, saying that failure to meet his and Umno’s demands within the stipulated deadline of 48 hours would result in a lawsuit.
In the letter signed off by Mohd Hafarizam, Najib and Umno claimed that the articles compiled by Malaysiakini’s editorial team amounted to irresponsible journalism, were published in bad faith and intended to damage their “reputation and credibility”.
Najib and Umno demanded that Malaysiakini issue an unconditional apology and withdraw the articles, besides providing compensation and a written undertaking to refrain from publishing any other defamatory statements.
But the news portal stressed that it would rely “on the defences of qualified privilege, fair comment and the guarantees of a free press” in accordance to rights as enshrined in the Federal Constitution.
Umno lawyer Raihanah Ashriqin Ariffin, when contacted today, confirmed the letter was sent yesterday within its 48-hour window period but she has yet to receive instructions from the BN lynchpin party or its president whether to proceed with the lawsuit.
