By Ling Hui
KUCHING, Aug 13: A judgement of RM40,000 compensation fee to Siburan Hall Committee has been set aside for plaintiffs Liu Thian Leong, Chang Hon Hiung and Chong Jit Leong by the Court of Appeals following a hearing on July 30.
Siburan Hall Committee said, however, the Court of Appeal affirmed the High Court’s original judgement of individual compensations by plaintiffs to defendants Jee Nyen Chong, Voon Sam Ted and Chong Vui Kuet who were chairman, secretary and treasury of the Hall respectively.
This was the latest update released by the Hall today in a virtual press conference on a lawsuit that originated from July 22, 2010 when Liu and the other two plaintiffs sued the Hall for defamation in light of a notification issued by the Siburan Hall Committee on Aug 4, 2010.
The dispute concerned dissatisfaction of the plaintiffs among 50 other Siburan residents towards the Hall for refusing to open their basketball court and accept memberships in which the plaintiffs claimed to have led to the death of a basketball player due to change of venue for basketball training.
The plaintiffs also alleged a lack of transparency in the Hall’s management when the latter covertly altered its name from ‘Community Hall’ to ‘Siburan Hall’.
In 2013, Liu and the two others won the case where judgement was entered for Siburan Hall Committee to compensate a total of RM140,000 to the three plaintiffs and bear the court costs of RM40,000.
The Hall said the judgement sum was paid off in 2018, but before this in 2015, the Hall’s counter claim against the original judgement was approved in Federal Court and a hearing was called before the High Court in 2017.
One of the key extracts from the grounds of judgement then said that allegations surrounding the basketball player’s death as stated by the plaintiffs was false as the victim’s mother and basketballer friend testified at the trial denying the plaintiffs’ allegations.
“The decision to play at Beratok village was an initial and original plan, not an alternative one. So who do I believe? The mother and her friend of course, since they were closest persons to her at that material time.
“The plaintiffs and their witnesses were not even known to her personally and what they said about her death, in the face of her mother’s and friend’s testimonies, came across strongly as rumour mongering at its worst,” read the grounds of judgement.
Thus, both the High Court and Appeal Court had ruled in favour of the Siburan Hall Committee and entered the judgement for the plaintiffs to compensate the three defendants, the Hall and cover the court costs.
Dissatisfied, plaintiffs Liu, Chang and Chong appealed to the Court of Appeals while the Hall subsequently also appealed against the amount of judgment sum, and the outcome was the revoke of the separate compensation to Siburan Hall Committee.
Meanwhile, the learned High Court trial judge once again affirmed that the accusation of the girl’s death due to the Hall’s refusal to open its basketball court was “total falsehood” and that the plaintiffs’ accusation of the committee running the Hall without transparency had injured the reputation of the Hall.
Among those present at the press conference were Siburan Hall Committee chairman Chung Chon Shin, vice chairman Bong Ah La, secretary Thian Yuk Siong, vice secretary Voon Sam Ted and member Mona Phang Yin Yin. — DayakDaily
