PAS allegedly seeking donations to help Siti Mastura pay RM825k to DAP

Summary

• PAS is allegedly raising funds to help Kepala Batas MP Siti Mastura Muhammad pay damages to DAP.

• Mastura lost a defamation suit for alleging that Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng were related to Chin Peng, and that Teresa Kok was related to the Lims.

• If she fails to pay the damages, she will lose her seat, triggering a by-election.

PAS is allegedly organising a donation drive to help Kepala Batas MP Siti Mastura Muhammad pay RM825,000 in damages to DAP leaders.

This is after she lost a defamation case for claiming that Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng were related to Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) leader Chin Peng and that Teresa Kok was also related to the Lims.

In a letter that is being spread on social media, PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan said that the DAP leaders are demanding immediate payment.

Failure to do so, he said, would result in bankruptcy proceedings being initiated against Siti Mastura (above), which in turn could cause her to lose her seat, thereby triggering a by-election.

Takiyuddin said the first-time lawmaker had only uttered the remarks while campaigning for PAS in the Kemaman by-election.

As such, to avoid Siti Mastura being disqualified as an MP, the party is organising a donation drive.

The letter stated that central PAS committee leaders and state chiefs, divisions and branches are required to donate at least RM500 each.

State chapters as well as wings at federal, state, and division levels are required to raise a minimum of RM20,000 each.

Malaysiakini is trying to contact Takiyuddin and other PAS leaders to confirm the authenticity of the letter.

‘Not right’

PAS information chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari said he could not comment on the matter when contacted.

Former PAS leader Khairuddin Aman Razali was critical of the fundraiser.

“It is not right to collect funds from the community to pay for civil damages that were the result of slander,” he said.

When asked to comment on this, Fadhli retorted with a Malaysiakini article from 2017 in which PKR’s Rafizi Ramli also did a fundraiser to pay RM300,000 to National Feedlot Corporation over a defamation suit.

Rafizi later won an appeal and had the money refunded. He said he would use the refund to sponsor students.

LETTER | Siti Mastura's remarks not stupidity but political strategy

COMMENT | Siti Mastura a victim of M'sian education system

'Let me study judgment first', PAS MP says after losing DAP trio's suit

PAS MP loses defamation case for claiming DAP trio related to Chin Peng