Sungkai rep gets public apology from daily after winning defamation suit

Sungkai state assemblyperson A Sivanesan has received two public apologies from the English daily The Star and its journalist published in the newspaper today.

This comes after he won his defamation suit against them as well as a farmer back in September 2022 which included a court order for the publication of the apologies and retraction of the defamatory article in question.

The Star today published two articles on behalf of the company and the journalist Foong Pek Yee apologising and retracting its stories titled “Farmers angered as farms are bulldozed”, Pakatan promised to help us resolve land issues, say villagers” and “Wee: Farmers who lost their farmland deserve answer”.

The articles were first published in August 2018 in the newspaper and The Star Online respectively.

Last September, Sivanesan (above) won RM320,000 in damages in the defamation suit.

The Shah Alam High Court had ordered The Star Media Group and Foong to pay the former Perak executive councillor RM200,000 and RM70,000 respectively.

Poh Wai Sheng, a farmer from Kampung Baharu Kuala Bikam in Perak, was ordered to pay RM50,000 in damages.

The articles in question highlighted farmers in Kampung Baharu Kuala Bikam who expressed fears that over 76.9ha of land with fruit trees were being bulldozed by a sand mining company.

According to Sivanesan, the previous state government granted a permit for Pengurusan Pasir Perak Sdn Bhd to transport silica sand out of the village.

The relevant sand mining area had been occupied by farmers who operated the farms illegally, he claimed.

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