KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 — Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and two news portals and their editors have been sued by two Penang Umno leaders and a housing developer.
The plaintiffs, Penang Umno secretary Datuk Musa Sheikh Fadzir, Maison Height Sdn Bhd and Penang Barisan Nasional secretary Datuk Omar Faudzar, filed the suit through Messrs Abu Bakar As-Sidek on January 30.
They named Lim, TMI Dot Com Sdn Bhd (The Malaysian Insider owner), Jahabar Sadiq (The Malaysian Insider editor), Mkini Dotcom Sdn Bhd (Malaysiakini owner) and Stevan Gan (Malaysiakini editor) as the first to fifth defendants.
Lawyer Datuk Abu Bakar As-Sidek who is representing the plaintiffs told reporters today that deputy registrar Pavani Kasi set April 2 for case management.
In their statement of claim, the plaintiffs alleged that Lim was responsible for producing an article titled “Pembohongan Umno (Umno’s Lies)”.
They alleged that the article was subsequently published by The Malaysian Insider on November 27, 2014 under the heading, “Stop Spreading Lies about Penang Government, Guan Eng tells Umno”.
The plaintiffs further alleged that Lim was responsible for the publication in Malaysiakini on November 28, 2014, of an article, “Umno made profits by selling Malay kampungs”.
They alleged that the three articles were concocted to mean that Maison Height was a fraudulent company that bought and sold land in Balik Pulau to illicitly reap profits.
Musa and Omar also alleged that the articles presented them as having betrayed and deceived the Malays and were untrustworthy.
“The claims are false, baseless and malicious and have severely damaged the company’s business and our reputation,” alleged the plaintiffs.
They also claimed that the articles had caused them to be reviled in the social media and mass media. — Bernama
