KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 24 — A former minister has won RM45,000 in a libel lawsuit against a Chinese daily for an article implying he breached the Movement Control Order (MCO) by travelling overseas.
According to FMT, judicial commissioner Asmah Musa awarded RM35,000 in general damages and RM10,000 in aggravated damages, along with RM5,000 in costs and 5 per cent interest until full settlement to former plantation and commodities minister Datuk Mohd Khairuddin bin Aman Razali.
The defamation suit centred on a Sin Chew Daily report published on September 1, 2020, which linked a photograph from Khairuddin’s 2016 trip to the Netherlands to a 2020 visit to Turkey, implying he had breached MCO restrictions. The image was also shared widely on the newspaper’s Facebook page.
Asmah said that while journalism is protected by qualified privilege, media outlets must verify facts, maintain balance and use imagery responsibly.
She found that Sin Chew had failed to meet the standards expected of a professional news organisation by not checking the accuracy or origin of the photograph, nor seeking Khairuddin’s comment before publication.
“The law will protect freedom of expression, but not at the expense of factual accuracy or fairness,” she said in her written judgment.
