KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 21 — Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom is ready to face off in court against  lawyer Siti Kasim for his past remarks against her.

Jamil Khir, who is in charge of Islamic affairs, said he takes full responsibility over his comments regarding investigation papers opened by the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Department (Jawi) on individuals alleged to have insulted Islam, Malay daily Utusan Malaysia reported today.

“Never mind. If she wants to sue, I accept,” he was quoted saying.

Yesterday, Siti had on her Facebook account said that it was brought to her attention through a November 20 news report by news portal Free Malaysia Today (FMT) that Jamil Khir had allegedly made false and defamatory statements against her while responding to a convention participant’s question on November 19.

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“In the event those slanderous statements were indeed made by the Minister, he should immediately cease and desist from continuing to do so.

“The Minister can be assured that he will be receiving a letter from me soon,” she said in a Facebook post.

A link provided by Siti to the FMT report did not display the story, but the same site carried a report by national news agency Bernama where Jamil was quoted saying that Jawi had opened investigation papers and called the vocal lawyer.

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Bernama said the participant of the “Empowering the Ummah Agenda 3.0” convention had asked if the government had taken action against Siti for allegedly making statements insulting Islam.