Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar had defamed him in 2007, in implying that he was a traitor to the people, because at that time the young politician was determined to contest in the 2008 general election.

Testifying in his defamation suit against Khairy at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today, Anwar, 65, described Khairy’s statement as being politically motivated as at that time the defendant did not hold any parliamentary seat nor was he a member of a state legislative assembly.

“The defendant was the deputy Umno Youth chief (then) and his father-in-law was Malaysia’s prime minister. Khairy did not hold any post and he was determined to contest in the 2008 general election.

“I am indeed a member of the opposition and one of the main competitors of Malaysia’s prime minister in the political arena at that time and because of that the defendant used the chance for his personal interests by hurling allegations which are baseless and totally untrue against me at a political forum with the intention that it would be published and widely circulated to the public through mass and electronic media with the aim of tarnishing my political career,” he said.

Anwar was testifying in his defamation suit against Khairy following the Umno leader’s speech in Kuala Kangsar on Aug 2, 2007, where the young politician was alleged to have uttered defamatory words to mean that the opposition leader was a traitor to the Malays and was a foreign agent.

The report was carried in the The Star newspaper the next day on Aug 3, 2007.

Anwar filed the libel claim against Khairy on Sept 7, 2007, claiming that the Umno Youth leader’s statements portrayed him as a politician who could not be trusted by the Malays; who did not give importance to the struggle of the Malays and their rights; and that he was capable of betraying the Malay struggle and rights just to get the support of the non-Malays in the country.

Anwar contended that Khairy had made the statements to insinuate that he (Anwar) was a political agent of the United States and the Jews, as well as to ruin his political career, and that he had ill-intention when making the statements, which the Permatang Pauh MP said were lies, baseless and without truth.

In his statement of defence, Khairy stated that the statements were made on an occasion of qualified privilege, justification and fair comment. Khairy, who is also Rembau MP, was also present during the court proceedings.

Anwar: KJ has no basis to much such statements

The Permatang Pauh Pauh MP told the court in replying to questions from his lawyer Gobind Singh Deo that there was no basis for Khairy to make such defamatory statements and that they were done in bad faith.

“The defendant had also uttered those statements during an Umno Youth political speech for personal interests, given that he was the deputy Umno Youth chief at that time. I have been seriously defamed and injured in terms of my professional and personal reputation within and outside Malaysia.”

NONE When cross-examined by Khairy’s lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah ( left ), the Umno lawyer tried to bring up past issues including trying to have Anwar admit that he had been found guilty of corruption and had faced two sodomy charges.

However, the PKR de facto leader said the charge of corruption was incorrect as it does not involve any money.

This resulted in Judge Su Geok Yiam asking Shafee to rephrase the question to say the charge was abuse of power, to which Anwar replied he agreed that he met a senior police officer.

“As to the charge of sodomy, they were politically motivated and it had already been proven untrue in court,” he said.

There was also a 10-minute exchange between Justice Su and Shafee when the senior lawyer tried to postpone the hearing at 4.30pm, citing that a scope procedure had to be performed on his throat tomorrow morning, but the lawyer promised to come to court early by 9.30am.

However, Justice Su said such a procedure cannot be done as a local anaesthetic needs to be done and the patient would not recover fast, as she had faced the same procedure before.

The judge implied that she was aware of the alleged delaying tactic employed by Shafee and at one point the lawyer applied for a five-minute break to call his specialist to consult on bringing forward the medical procedure to early tomorrow morning, which the court did not allow for the recess.

Instead hearing continue until 5.45pm. Shafee, before the close of today’s proceeding, also asked the judge what time the court will operate, and Justice Su said we will begin at 930am until 1pm and resume from 2.30pm to 6pm.

Previously, it was reported that Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria had reminded judges not to conveniently allow the postponement of cases.

The court will tomorrow also hear submissions on various old newspaper reports which will be cited by defence to justify Khairy’s claim on Anwar, to which Gobind had objected.

Gobind said Shafee cannot merely bring old newspaper reports to justify such claims, without bringing the author of the articles, as the senior Umno lawyer had told the court that he intended to call The Star ’s chief news editor and also a clerk from the New Straits Times to verify such reports.