The government would not be reluctant to legislate for a ceiling on the extravagant damages reward to plaintiffs in defamation and libel suits.

"Perhaps it is not good for the society to remain neutral on this issue and if societal feelings are strong enough, meaning if representations are made to the government, we will not be reluctant to review it," de facto law minister Dr Rais Yatim said after officiating the launching of a book on bankruptcy in Kuala Lumpur today.

Last week local television station TV3 was ordered by the Kuala Lumpur High Court to pay damages of RM100 million to businessman Badrul Zaman PS Md Zakariah for a news broadcast which allegedly depicted visuals of him in handcuffs while he was in remand for allegedly not operating a genuine employment agency ([#1] Nine dailies and government sued for RM1.3 billion [/#], Feb 2).

Badrul is also suing nine local dailies and the government for a total sum of RM1.3 billion.

"I am sure there is enough wisdom and constraint in the judiciary to curtail this for the time being but what I am saying is if at the end of the day that does not happen, legislation ought to be considered," Rais said.

He added that the cases now were being studied by a committee in the Prime Minister's Department which Rais also chairs.

"This issue will be the next homework we are going to thrash out," he added.

Over the past year, other suits involving high claims for damages are by MIC president S Samy Vellu who is suing Malaysia Nanban for RM100 million, DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang who is suing NST for RM500 million and former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim who attempted to sue Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad for RM100 million but failed.

Damages awarded in other defamation cases recently are RM3 million for Health Minister Chua Jui Meng against a businessman and a lawyer, RM1.3 million for a batik producer against Utusan Malaysia , and RM900,000 for lawyer DP Vijandran against politician Karpal Singh and the publishers of two English dailies.

Oil royalty

Later when asked to comment on the Terengganu oil royalty payment, Rais said that he had told the Attorney-General's Chambers to prepare for that and that a panel of experts had been set up to fight the issue.

According to NST Online today, the Terengganu state government has announced that it will file a civil suit against national oil company Petronas at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on March 8.

"I have already informed the AG to be ready and a competent group has been constituted to defend the rights of the federal government. Extensive homework has been done and we are confident. This will be a purely constitutional and legal matter," he said.

It was reported that former Lord President Tun Salleh Abas has been tasked to argue the case for the state government.

The oil royalty issue hogged the media limelight after the federal government decided that oil revenues from the state be channelled as wang ehsan (goodwill payments) to state residents rather than to the state government. The PAS-led state government has claimed that it had a right to the monies.

Increase in bankruptcy

Earlier during his speech, Rais announced that as of January 2001, more than 85,000 cases of bankruptcy had been filed, of which 15-20 percent was due to excessive credit card usage.

"There has been a rise in credit card usage and this is because it is now easy to apply for one. We have expressed concern but there is no official response yet from the association of bankers.

He said that since a person with an annual income lower than RM24,000 could obtain a card, "perhaps the amount could be increased to make it more stringent to apply for credit cards."