By Dorcas Ting
KUCHING, April 18: Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) organising secretary Datuk Matthew Chen Thin Kong confirmed in the High Court today that Sarawak Federation of Chinese Associations president Dato Richard Wee Liang Huat@Richard Wee Liang Chiat was never a member of the party.
Chen is the ninth witness called by the plaintiff in the defamation suit filed by Wee against Democratic Action Party’s Michael Kong over an allegedly defamatory Facebook post dated July 21, 2020.
Chen during the examination-in-chief conducted by the counsel for the plaintiff, Shankar Ram Asnani, said that as the organising secretary of SUPP, his main task is to write reports and oversee the approval of membership applications.
He confirmed that as the party’s organising secretary, he never found Wee as a member of SUPP.
The plaintiff had also called its tenth witness, Lim How Pin, a reporter from local English daily The Borneo Post.
Lim during the examination-in-chief confirmed that she had written the article with the heading “Urban, Chinese voters likely to back GPS in State polls, says Wee” which was published in The Borneo Post newspaper and uploaded on the Borneo Post website dated July 20, 2020.
She said she contacted Wee on July 19, 2020 and asked questions that led to the said article published on The Borneo Post website as it was the assignment for the day for her.
She also admitted she caused to be published a Borneo Post news article dated November 3, 2018, with the title “RM12 million for Du Zhong most welcome – Wee”.
She confirmed that she was the one who called Wee to get his views on the issue.
Lim said the article was based on an interview and not a press statement by Wee.
The case was heard before High Court Judge Dr Alwi Abdul Wahab. The hearing will continue tomorrow morning.
The plaintiff will call seven more witnesses to testify in court. — DayakDaily
