It’s confirmed, Pahang Menteri Besar Adnan Yaakob has filed a RM15 million civil suit against Utusan Malaysia , a newspaper owned by his party.

 

The suit is over an article written by Utusan’s columnist Awang Selamat, titled ‘ Hebat sangatkah Adnan ?’ (Is Adnan that great?).

 

Adnan named Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd as its sole defendant and the writ was filed on Dec 5 by Americk Sidhu’s law firm at the Kuala Lumpur High Court civil registry this week and was served to Utusan yesterday.

 

The Utusan article penned by Awang Selamat, which is the daily's official pseudonym used to express its editorial stance, claimed that Adnan had overstayed his presence as menteri besar.

 

Adnan, an Umno supreme council member, has been Pahang MB for 15 years since 1999, making him the longest-serving Umno MB.

 

He was slammed by the daily following his comments on the fatal mud flood in Cameron Highlands last month.

 

The Pahang MB complained that Awang's article had brought him adverse imputations resulting in public odium, ridicule and hate.

 

Adnan claimed the words in the article meant that he lacks integrity, is an MB who failed in his duties, a maligner who has overstayed his position as MB, an MB who has outlived his usefulness, and a person who is brash and arrogant and rejects any form of criticism.

 

Adnan also said that the article meant that he is a person who uses his political position to abuse the media, an MB who has generally a bad behaviour and a liability to the political party he belonged to, an MB who has done very little to improve his state, and an MB who is unpopular in Pahang.

He complained the article also meant that he generally ignored issues faced by the state, became MB not because of his own ability but due to the influence of the Pahang sultan, has no business being a national leader and failed miserably in his duty.

Case management on Jan 6

 

The Pahang MB had earlier given Utusan 14 days to apologise over the article and the deadline elapsed on Dec 2 without any response from the Malay language newspaper.

Lawyer Manjeet Singh Dhillon told Malaysiakini that the lawsuit had been fixed for case management on Jan 6 before Justice Yeoh Wee Siam.

Adnan is seeking an unstipulated amount of general, aggravated and exemplary damages, an apology published on the front page of Utusan , interests and costs, and other relief deemed fit by the court.

In a letter of demand served against Utusan last month by Manjeet, Adnan stated that he was seeking RM15 million in damages.

 

While opposition politicians have filed a spate of lawsuits against Utusan , with many emerging victorious in court, it is rare for a top Umno leader to sue a newspaper owned by his own party.