Three DAP heavyweights haul Siti Mastura to court for defamation

Three DAP leaders have filed defamation suits against PAS lawmaker Siti Mastura Muhammad over allegations they have blood ties with a communist and a former Singapore PM.

DAP chairperson Lim Guan Eng, his father Kit Siang and Seputeh MP Teresa Kok filed the civil actions at the Georgetown High Court two days ago, with sealed copies extracted from the civil court today.

When contacted by Malaysiakini, the DAP leaders' counsel Sankara Nair confirmed that copies of the lawsuits are in the process of being served on Siti Mastura.

The three lawsuits are over the Kepala Batas MP’s speech at a Kemaman by-election campaign event at Dewan Berlian, Majlis Perbandaran Kemaman, on Nov 4.

Siti Mastura (above) had claimed that the three DAP leaders were related to Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) leader Ong Boon Hua, popularly known by his nom de guerre Chin Peng, and Singapore’s first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.

Through the lawsuits, the plaintiffs seek general, compensatory, aggravated and exemplary damages, as well as an injunction to restrain the defendant from further uttering the allegation.

The trio claimed that Siti Mastura's public statement was not only untrue but made with malice to imply that they sought to undermine Malaysia's democratic process and national security.

The trio alleged that the defendant's words implied that they posed a threat to Islam and the future of the country.

The plaintiffs claimed that Siti Mastura's statement implied that there existed an ethnic Chinese conspiracy between Singapore and Malaysia, which is detrimental to the security and democracy of Malaysia.

The trio claimed that the defendant has of today refused to apologise over her statement, pointing out that a media report on Nov 14 quoted her reiterating that she is standing by her ceramah.

The plaintiffs alleged that Siti Mastura had even claimed to have handed over reference materials to the police, who are investigating her over the speech.

"The defendant, as a veteran politician, a public figure and an MP ought to have been more circumspect in her speech and wild allegations so as not to cross the line and defame the plaintiff (Guan Eng, Kit Siang and Teresa) with alacrity and impunity," the plaintiffs contended.

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