Anwar seeks RM2m in damages over Lahat Datu news clip

KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has claimed RM2 million in damages against Sistem Televisyen (M) Bhd (TV3) over a news item on Buletin Utama in 2013 linking him to the bloody intrusion in Lahad Datu.
Lawyer Datuk Ambiga Sreenivasan who represented Anwar said the amount was fitting as it was a serious allegation against her client, calling him the "dalang" (puppeteer) behind the intrusion.
TV3 had based the news on an article by Utusan Malaysia that had been retracted. The newspaper had issued an apology for publishing the article.
"On March 2, 2014, Utusan Malaysia had published an article calling Anwar to be 'dalang' or puppeteer behind the Lahad Datu intrusion. Utusan has since said the article is baseless and an apology has been issued but they (TV3) have maintained it for 5 years," she told the court.
"The amount is fitting as we were a key moment, it was right before GE13. They need to stop producing reports that are so damaging. This defamation case is like no another. It accuses a man of treason, of betrayal of his own country. That is a very serious allegation."
Ambiga added that editor Kamaruddin Mape who wrote the script for TV3 did not verify facts despite being a senior journalist and TV3 had failed to exercise responsible journalism in validating Utusan's article.
"They did not take steps that responsible journalism calls for," she said.
Anwar was claiming RM1 million as general damages, and RM500,000 for aggravated damages and exemplary damages respectively.
Lawyer Liew Teck Hew who represented TV3 argued that the news had to be viewed as a whole and not to only scrutinise certain words.
The High Court then set May 14 for decision.
Anwar initially filed the RM100 million lawsuit against Utusan Malaysia and TV3 in March 2013, but he settled the case against Utusan and its editor, Abdul Aziz Ishak, in October 2016, with the Malay daily paying RM50,000 as part of the settlement agreement.