By Dorcas Ting
KUCHING, April 19: A press statement by DAP Sarawak dated Dec 29, 2021 was produced as one of the exhibits for the defamation case between Sarawak Federation of Chinese Associations Dato Richard Wee over DAP’s Michael Kong’s Facebook post on July 21, 2020.
The said press statement that was admitted as an exhibit for the case was regarding DAP Sarawak apologising for failing to meet people’s expectations during 12th Sarawak Election.
Lian Cheng, a journalist for online news portal DayakDaily, who was subpoenaed by the plaintiff’s counsel was asked to produce the said press statement.
Cheng, during the examination-in-chief, confirmed she received the press statement from DayakDaily reporter, Karen Bong who attended the press conference called by DAP Sarawak on Dec 29, 2021.
Counsel for the defendant, Chong Chieng Jen rejected the admission of the said press statement on the grounds that it was irrelevant to the issue of the case.
He said the action by the plaintiff is a defamation action whereby the plaintiff is complaining that the Facebook post of the defendant dated July 21, 2020 is defamatory.
He said the press statement is not relevant to prove whether the defendant’s post is defamatory or otherwise.
He added it will also prolong the trial as in any election, there are a lot of factors to be taken into and if the Court is to engage itself into the analysis of any election result, there would be no end to the trial.
“Even for this press statement there are a lot of explanations, a lot of extrinsic facts and factors that contribute to the election result, for example strategies of political party contesting the election, the number of Opposition parties contesting the election and issues raised in the election will need to be raised and explained if this press statement were to be admitted as evidence,” Chong said.
However, Shankar in his submission said that the said press statement is relevant to the case where he pointed out two points from the said press statement, which read: “Such sentiment was because the DAP and Pakatan Harapan, during the 22 months of being the Federal government, did not manage to match the expectations of the people”.
Shankar said this is relevant to show that what the plaintiff had said in the earlier Borneo Post Online article authored by the 9th witness, Lim How Pim, which read: “The people are disappointed with PH because when they were in the government, they did not fulfill the promises made. Because of this, I believe the urban and Chinese voters would align themselves with GPS come the 12th State Elections”.
“This is relevant to show that there is truth in what the plaintiff has said and the defendant who attacked the plaintiff by his Facebook post on July 21, 2020 was malicious,” Shankar said.
He said the press statement issued by DAP on Dec 21, 2021 will actually show the course of conduct and malice by the defendant who refused to apologise to the plaintiff in this case.
After hearing the submissions from both parties, High Court Judge Haji Alwi Abdul Wahab viewed that the said press statement was relevant and therefore allowed it to be submitted as evidence.
Wee was represented by Counsel Shakar Ram, Yu Ying Ying and Russel Lim whereas Kong was represented by Counsel Chong Chieng Jen, Sim Kiat Leng and Brenda Chong. — DayakDaily
