Ibrahim Ali loses defamation suit against ‘theSun’, ordered to pay RM50,000

(Malay Mail Online) – A Shah Alam High Court today dismissed the 2010 defamation suit filed by Datuk Ibrahim Ali against theSun newspaper and ordered the Perkasa president to pay RM50,000 in costs.

According to Malaysiakini, judicial commissioner M. Gunalan ruled that the article cited by Ibrahim in his suit had not been specifically about him but about the right-wing Malay group.

The judge also found the newspaper article to be justified and that the daily is protected by qualified privilege, the news portal reported.

“The court also orders the plaintiff (Ibrahim) to pay RM50,000 costs,” the judge was quoted saying in his ruling.

Ibrahim had filed a defamation suit against theSun over an article published on March 17, 2010, titled “Sultan keeps Perkasa guessing on invitation”.

The article spoke about whether the Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah would attend the launch of Perkasa’s Selangor chapter on March 27 that year.

The Malay rights leader had named theSun’s then managing editor, Chong Cheng Hai, and then deputy editor (special reports and investigations) Terence Fernandez, and the publisher Sun Media Corporation Sdn Bhd as defendants in his suit.

In his statement of claim, Ibrahim had said the article defamed him by portraying him as an extremist in his fight for Malay rights.