KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 — DAP veteran leader Lim Kit Siang and former inspector-general of police Tun Mohammed Hanif Omar will try to settle their legal dispute out of court.
Lim’s counsel, Rayveni Asogan, said the High Court has given both parties until June 24 to inform the court if they could resolve the matter out of court.
“Both parties are open for an out-of-court settlement but it depends on what the terms of the settlement are. If there is no resolution, the court will proceed to set the trial date,” she said when met on the courtside.
Counsel Janani Kumari who represents Mohammed Hanif was also present.
Lim filed the suit on October 17 last year, claiming that the ex-IGP had, while giving a speech at a ‘Karamah Bangsa’ convention in Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Shah Alam on September 6, claimed that Lim had intentionally ordered DAP to split Peninsular Malaysia into two, to divide the Malays and the Chinese.
Lim also claimed that the statement was published in Malay Sinar Harian daily.
In his statement of claim, the Iskandar Puteri MP claimed that the defendant had also maliciously caused the publication of the defamatory statement in the Malaysiakini and Free Malaysia Today news portals on September 6 and 7.
Lim claimed that the statement had ruined his reputation as an MP and a public figure.
He also claimed that a letter dated September 12 was sent to the defendant to withdraw the statement and to apologise.
The defendant’s lawyer replied to the letter, denying the statement made against the plaintiff.
Lim is seeking for general, aggravated and exemplary damages as well as an injunction to prohibit the defendant or any of his agents to repeat or republish the statements. — Bernama
