Media Prima Berhad deputy group news editor told the High Court in Kuala Lumpur today that he did not see it necessary to display the original tweets by former Perak menteri besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin in the TV3 report pertaining to the latter’s allegation on the misuse of public funds by the Johor sultan to bid for the WWW1 registration number plate.

Mohd Ashraf Abdullah said this when testifying as the first defendant witness in the hearing of a RM50 million defamation suit filed by Mohammad Nizar against the television station.

He disagreed with lawyer Mohd Fitri Asmuni, representing Mohammad Nizar, that his decision was intended to influence the thinking of TV3 viewers on the issue.

However, Mohd Ashraf agreed with Mohd Fitri that Mohammad Nizar’s name was not mentioned in the tweet by the Tengku Mahkota of Johor seeking quarters who had accused the Johor sultan of misusing public funds for the purpose to investigate the matter before making such an allegation.

He said that after checking the contents of the Tengku Mahkota’s Twitter, he found that Mohammad Nizar’s name was actually included by the defendants (TV3 and producer of the Buletin Utama slot).

To another question, Mohd Ashraf said he agreed with Mohd Fitri that the TV3 report on the alleged accusation by Mohammad Nizar against a sultan was a serious allegation because it involved the royal institution.

He also told the court that the Buletin Utama slot had an average of 2.8 million viewers every day and the report on Mohammad Nizar’s tweets was also reported by all four stations under the Media Prima Group.

He denied that there was malicious intent by the defendants in reporting the matter, saying that that the television station did contact the Johor police chief for comments on several reports lodged against Mohammad Nizar’s tweets.

On July 10 last year, Mohammad Nizar filed two suits against Utusan Melayu and TV3. He named Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Berhad and its producer Rohani Ngah as the first and second defendants respectively.  

In his statement of claim, Mohammad Nizar stated that on May 28 he issued a statement on the vehicle number plate through his Twitter account and on May 30, TV3 had aired the content of that statement in its Main News Bulletin at 8pm.

Mohammad Nizar claimed that the alleged defamatory statement had tarnished his image and could be interpreted to mean he was a traitor to the Malay rulers, especially the sultan of Johor, a politician who was anti-royalty and who instigated the people to hate the sultan of Johor.   

The hearing before Judge Yeoh Wee Siam continues on Jan 11.

- Bernama