SPUTRAJAYA: A seven-member Federal Court bench will hear the appeal by Kepong member of parliament Lim Lip Eng in a defamation lawsuit to determine a legal question on whether political parties can file defamation suits against individuals in March next year.
Lim’s lawyer, Guok Ngek Seong, in a text message, told Bernama that the hearing of the appeal has been fixed for March 4, next year.
He said a panel comprising three Federal Court judges had agreed three weeks ago to their request for a larger panel of judges to hear the appeal.
Case management via e-review was conducted before the Federal Court deputy registrar Azniza Mohd Ali today.
On March 12, this year, a Federal Court three-man panel led by Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Azahar Mohamed granted Lim a leave to pursue his appeal in the Federal Court.
The court had allowed a legal question for determination by the Federal Court. The question is on whether a political party can maintain a suit for defamation in the light of the decisions in Goldsmith v Bhoyrul (1998) and Rajagopal v Jayalalitha (2006).
In July 2017, then MCA secretary-general Ong Ka Chuan filed a defamation suit against Lim over the remarks he made at a press conference at the Parliament building on March 15, 2016, over allegations pertaining to the government and public funds allocation for National Type Chinese Schools (SJKC).
He claimed that Lim’s remarks had seriously injured MCA’s reputation, adding that the party was seeking RM100 million in general and exemplary damages.
On Feb 27, 2018, the High Court rejected Lim’s application to strike out the suit and he also lost his appeal at the Court of Appeal, which was dismissed on grounds that there were issues to be tried before the High Court.
At the leave to appeal court proceedings, lawyer Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram who appeared for Lim submitted that registered societies including political parties cannot file defamation suits because they have no reputation unlike an individual.
Lawyer Ang Boon Heng who had appeared for Ong argued that the law on the issue was settled following a Federal Court decision two years ago in a defamation suit filed by the Sarawak government against Sarawak DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen.
The Federal Court in that case ruled that the government could sue individuals for defamation. — Bernama
