Hannah’s suit against ex-IGP postponed after Musa Hassan no-show

Judicial Commissioner Arziah Apandi has fixed Aug 9 as the next hearing date.

(FMT) – Youth and sports minister Hannah Yeoh’s defamation suit against a former inspector-general of police has been postponed till next month, after the latter’s no-show this morning.

“My defamation case against former IGP Musa Hassan could not go on today because the defendant and his lawyers did not turn up in court,” Yeoh said in a Facebook post.

Yeoh’s lawyers had attempted to contact Musa’s lawyers, but to no avail.

Judicial Commissioner Arziah Apandi fixed Aug 9 for the next hearing.

When contacted, Musa’s lawyer Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz admitted to mixing up the trial dates.

“We got our dates wrong.”

Yeoh filed her suit against Musa in 2020, alleging that the former top cop had told a forum at Universiti Teknologi Mara on Jan 30, 2020 that she was involved in an attempt to turn Malaysia into a Christian nation.

She claims Musa, who was IGP from 2006 to 2010, told the forum that an unnamed evangelical group linked to DAP was trying to destroy Islam in the country.

Musa is also alleged to have said Yeoh had written a book “to make this country a Christian country”.

Yeoh is seeking general, aggravated and exemplary damages from Musa, and an injunction to restrain him and other parties from further publishing the impugned statements.

Earlier this month, Musa testified that he had not come across any classified document during his tenure linking Yeoh to an “evangelical group” allegedly trying to turn the country into a Christian nation.

Musa said he was only aware that several police reports had been filed in respect of the contents of Yeoh’s autobiography titled “Becoming Hannah, A Personal Journey”.