Karpal vs Utusan: Next round on July 7

(The Star) – The High Court here on Wednesday fixed July 7 for case management of veteran lawyer Karpal Singh’s defamation suit against Malay daily Utusan Malaysia.

The date was fixed by deputy registrar Nazri Ibrahim in his chambers.

Karpal filed the RM10mil defamation suit on Sept 19 last year, claiming that the defendant had defamed him through an article dated Aug 25.

In the statement of claim, the plaintiff said the words in the article were highly malicious as he had not uttered them in his welcoming address at the 15th DAP national congress on Aug 24.

The Member of Parliament for Bukit Gelugor, also the chairman of Opposition party the DAP, said the offending words implied that he rejected Islam as the official religion of the country.

Karpal said the words also implied that he was anti-national, a threat to national security and disloyal to the country.

In its defence, Utusan Malaysia asserted that in the proper context of the entire article, the said words were not capable of having any meaning that defamed the plaintiff.

It added that the said article as a whole did not attack the character, integrity or reputation of the plaintiff in his personal, professional and political capacity.

The daily also asserted that following a notice from the Karpal on Aug 25 requesting a retraction and apology, it had immediately published the retraction and apology on its front page under the heading Ralat, and it was accepted by the plaintiff.