KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 — Singer Shila Amzah or her real name, Nurshahila Amir Amzah, will testify on Dec 7 in the hearing of her defamation suit against an entertainment reporter and two others in relation to a defamatory article published in Kosmo! on Sept 17, 2014.
The matter was informed by her counsel Mahendra Kumar to reporters after the defamation suit was mentioned before High Court Judge Datuk Rosnaini Saub today.
Present were the singer’s father ND Lala or his real name, Amir Amzah Salleh and her mother, Fauziah Sarman.
Shila and her recording company, Shila Amzah Entertainment Berhad, as the plaintiffs filed the suit on Jan 16, 2015, and named the tabloid’s entertainment reporter, Maliah Surip, its editor, and publisher Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Berhad as the defendants.
In her statement of claims, the singer claimed that Maliah had written several articles in the tabloid, which implied that the “Shila Amzah-Love Live in Malaysia” concert at Mega Star Arena on Sept 13, 2014 was sponsored by the largest casino in the country, and that she (Shila) had ignored the Malay media.
The singer claimed that the articles were written after a status was uploaded onto Instagram, by the account holder who goes by the name “Shilaamzah_photography”, on Sept 15, 2014, which generally praised the media especially the Chinese media for their comprehensive coverage on the concert.
The singer who had represented the country in the Asian Wave Singing Competition in China in 2012 claimed that she did not know the “Shilaamzah_photography” account holder and the account was not in any way related to her company, Shila Amzah Entertainment.
She said the concert was jointly organised by Mega Ultimate Sdn Bhd and the “number one gaming company in Malaysia” had never sponsored the event as mentioned in the article.
The plaintiffs claimed that the articles written by the reporter implied that she was an immoral person who was willing to go against her religious and cultural beliefs, racist and insensitive towards her race in trying to gain sponsorship from an unlawful source for the success of the concert.
The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction to prevent the three defendants from repeating or republishing similar articles, besides seeking an order for the articles to be withdrawn.
They are also seeking general, compensatory and additional damages, costs and other relief deemed fit by the court.
Counsel M.Reza Hassan represented the defendants. — Bernama
