KUCHING, May 23 — Sarawak International Trade and E-Commerce Minister Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh was today served with a Letter of Demand (LoD) asking him to publicly retract his statement alleging that the former Pujut state lawmaker Dr Ting Tiong Choon was a bankrupt.
The United People's Party (UPP) president was also asked to tender an unqualified public apology to Dr Ting within seven days from today, failing which legal action will be initiated against him.
Speaking to reporters, Dr Ting's counsel Wong King Wei said the LoD was hand delivered to Wong's ministerial office at Bangunan Baitulmakmur, Medan Jaya, Petra Jaya, this morning.
"Datuk Wong must retract his defamatory statement and tender an unqualified public apology based on the terms and conditions agreeable to both parties," he said, adding his client will not seek damages if the minister agrees to retract his statement and tender public apology within the seven days starting today until May 29.
The lawyer said the state minister’s statement, made at a press conference in response to a challenge issued by Dr Ting to repeat it outside the state assembly and was subsequently published by an English-language and Chinese dailies on May 16, is defamatory to Dr Ting.
The state minister, while tabling a motion to disqualify Dr Ting as a member of the Sarawak assembly for allegedly acquiring an Australian citizenship, had claimed that the former Pujut lawmaker had been made a bankrupt twice in Australia in 2012.
King Wei, who is also the DAP's state lawmaker for Padungan, said the minister's statement to the media was in its natural and ordinary meaning was understood to mean that Dr Ting was at some point in time and or is still an undischarged bankrupt.
He added the state minister's media statement was "evidently extremely grave and had caused and was likely to cause serious harm to Dr Ting's reputation."
King Wei said in consequence of the publication of the statement, his client had suffered considerable distress and embarrassment.
He said Dr Ting was never made a bankrupt in Australia, although his name appeared on the Insolvency List of Australian Financial Security Authority.
"Under a banking system anywhere else, a person is deemed to be insolvent if he has debts more than the value of his assets while a bankrupt is a pronouncement by the court against a person who is financially dead, not able and not allowed to manage his property or finance," King Wei said.
