Sued by UUM lecturer, DAP man says he was protecting people's rights
A Sarawak DAP leader who is being sued by Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) lecturer Kamarul Zaman Yusoff for defamation has said that he was only protecting the people and their rights to practise their religion.
Abdul Aziz Isa (above) was served a letter of demand from Kamarul's lawyer yesterday over a Facebook post he made in June 2017.
A Sarawak DAP leader who is being sued by Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) lecturer Kamarul Zaman Yusoff for defamation has said that he was only protecting the people and their rights to practise their religion.
Abdul Aziz Isa (above) was served a letter of demand from Kamarul's lawyer yesterday over a Facebook post he made in June 2017.
In the post, the Batu Kitang DAP chairperson had criticised Kamarul over the latter's statement published on the Ismaweb portal. Kamarul had allegedly made an issue about the Christians organising two major events in Malacca and Sarawak during Ramadan that year.
"Because of my response to the article, Kamarul has initiated legal proceeding against me with the amount of RM5 million, claiming to have defamed him on social media and online articles dating back to 2017.
"In total, the amount of compensation sought by Kamarul is nearly RM40 million. If Kamarul succeeds in his claims, he could possibly become a millionaire overnight. He is entitled to his opinion and I am entitled to mine.
"I would not have made such a statement if he did not issue it in the first place and published it to a third party," he said in a statement on Facebook last night.
According to Aziz, who is also special assistant to Stampin MP Chong Chieng Jen, he made the 2017 Facebook post to defend the rights of Christians to organise the events - the All Malaysian-Golden Gate Revival Convention in Malacca and All Borneo Revival Convocation in Miri, Sarawak - scheduled in June that year.
This, he said, came after Ismaweb published Kamarul's statement in an article titled "Malaysia sasaran Kristian, dua majlis besar bakal diadakan ketika umat Islam berpuasa" (Malaysia has become a target by the Christians, two major events to be held while Muslims are fasting).
"As a Sarawakian and a politician, I have a duty to protect my people. We live in a multiracial, multilingual and multi-religious society.
"Therefore, everyone has the right to practise their religion with freedom (and) without fear of being oppressed as enshrined in Article 3(1) of the Federal Constitution," Aziz said.
The suit against Aziz was among the latest in a series of legal actions by Kamarul against DAP leaders.
Earlier this week, Kamarul initiated legal proceedings against Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang, Seputeh MP Teresa Kok, Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng, DAP's former vice-chairperson Ariffin Omar, and Chong.
He claimed that the five had defamed him on social media and online articles dating back to 2017.
Yesterday, the lecturer who became an Internet sensation for his "death stare" encounter with former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 2018, stated that he would sue three other DAP leaders including Aziz.
The other two are Perai assemblyperson P Ramasamy and Seri Delima assemblyperson Syerleena Abdul Rashid.
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
This action cannot be undone.