Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has won a defamation suit against an environmental activist and online portal Free Malaysia Today and its reporter, for an article published on Dec 6, 2013.

 

The court found the article headlined ‘Guan Eng has failed, says NGO’, written by Athi Shankar to be defamatory. It related to the preservation of the island’s heritage.

 

Judicial Commissioner Nordin Hassan awarded Lim RM300,000 in damages, and ordered five percent interest per year be imposed  from the date of the ruling.

 

Nordin also ordered the defendants to pay RM30,000 in costs.

 

“The defendants had failed on the defence of justification, fair comment, public interest, and qualified privilege,” Nordin said in his decision.

 

Nordin added the first defendant, Citizens Awareness Chant Group (Chant) adviser Jimmy Lim Cheok Sian, had relied on newspapers articles - which might be just hearsay - when making his comments, and did not back his claims.

 

He added that Athi did not seek verification from Lim for his report quoting Jimmy.

 

“Responsible journalism needs verification before publication,” said Nordin.

 

N Mureli represented Lim, while FMT  (MToday News Sdn Bhd) and Athi, whose real name is S Karunakaran, were represented by Clement Lopez.

 

Jimmy’s legal counsels were Baljit Singh and V. Amareson.

 

The defendants are planning to appeal the court’s decision.

 

Bajlit said that the “High Court battle was lost but the war is far from over. The ruling has severe implications for fighting against environmental disasters, for journalism and online portals, which is why it is very important that we appeal this case,” Baljit told Malaysiakini when contacted.

 

Meanwhile, FMT CEO Shahrom Shahrudin was quoted in the online portal as saying it would appeal against the decision to protect journalistic integrity.

“Our reporter attended a press conference and reported what was said by a prominent advocate for heritage causes.

“FMT doesn’t hold a bias for or against any party. We merely report the news and provide space for opinion pieces by anyone representing any interest, as long as the articles are well argued,” he asserted.