By Dorcas Ting
KUCHING, Feb 19: The High Court here ordered a salesman, who is allegedly behind a profile named ‘Hui Tai Lang’ on Facebook, to enter his defence to a charge of defaming Padungan assemblyman Wong King Wei on the social media platform.
On Feb 17, 2020, the Magistrate’s Court had discharged and acquitted Chin Siaw Hong, 51.
However, the prosecution was not satisfied with the sentence and appealed against it to the Kuching High Court.
Kuching High Court Judicial Commissioner (JC) Zaleha Rose Pandin today allowed the appeal by the prosecution and ruled that the prosecution had fulfilled the elements and prima facie is established.
JC Zaleha ordered the defendant to enter his defence at Magistrate’s Court and the case will be mentioned in Magistrate’s Court on Feb 26, 2021.
Chin was charged under Section 500 of the Penal Code for posting defamatory messages and images via his Facebook account on Dec 9, 2018, at about 12.54 pm.
Chin, in his posts on Facebook under the name ‘Hui Tai Lang’, alleged that ‘Wong used fraud money to buy luxurious house and luxurious car’, ‘YB is involved in land fraud case’, ‘Wong applied for court order to demolish native houses’ and ‘A group of lawyers had used forged identity cards, forged signatures, forged documents to sell land having value RM4.5 million to one native businessman’.
On Dec 10, 2018, Wong lodged six police reports at the Kuching Police One Stop Centre against different social media pages for slander and defamation.
Upon police investigation, it was found that the posts shared by ‘Hui Tai Lang’ were not true. — DayakDaily
