Pujut assemblyperson Dr Ting Tiong Choon has sued Sarawak minister Wong Soon Koh and The Borneo Post, over allegations that he had been declared bankrupt in Australia in 2012.

Ting, through the defamation suit, is seeking an injunction against Wong and The Borneo Post from repeating the allegedly defamatory claim.

Among other remedies, he is also demanding that the two respondents pay for damages to his reputation with five percent interest per annum, starting from May 16.

According to Ting’s lawyer Alan Ling when contacted, the defamation suit was filed at the Kuching High Court at 4.20pm today. He is also represented by lawyers Wong King Wei and Chong Siew Chiang.

In his statement of claim, Ting said The Borneo Post had published an article that quoted Wong claiming that Ting had appeared on Australia’s bankruptcy list twice on June 23 and Sept 11, 2013.

Wong was also supposedly reported to have said that Ting was still on the list as of July 1, 2016.

Ting said the published article would have been understood to mean that he was dishonest and unfit to become a member of the Sarawak state assembly or a medical doctor.

"By reason of the said publication of the defamatory words, the plaintiff (Ting) has suffered a serious injury to his personal and professional reputation and has been lowered in the estimation of right-thinking members of society generally, and has thereby suffered considerable embarrassment and distress,” the statement read.

Ting claimed that Wong and The Borneo Post knew that the allegation was untrue, and had made the allegation maliciously.

He said that when Sarawak DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen spoke on his behalf to urge Wong to retract his statement, he simply refused and repeated it.

On May 12, Wong, who is Sarawak’s international trade and e-commerce minister, moved a motion to disqualify Ting from the state’s legislative assembly based on the allegation that he held Australian citizenship.

He also reportedly alleged that Ting was bankrupt and was unqualified to be an assemblyperson.

The motion was carried with 70-10 votes in favour.

However, the High Court judge Douglas Cristo Primus Sikayun declared the state assembly decision unlawful and ordered for Ting to be reinstated as the Pujut assemblyperson.

The Sarawak state assembly, its speaker Mohamad Asfia Awang Nasar, and Wong have each filed appeals against the high court decision last month.