I'll sue Utusan for defamation

By Jeff Ooi,

To prevent manipulation of facts by the Umno-owned mainstream media, this is the full text of my media statement released from Penang today:

February to August: A consistent pattern in defaming DAP... (from left) Lawyer R.S.N. Rayer, Jeff Ooi and his special assistant B.S. Yeoh

MEDIA STATEMENT

“DAP Hina Islam” allegations:
MP Jeff Ooi to sue Utusan Malaysia for defamation

[ JELUTONG, Saturday, August 16, 2009 ] – Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi will join fellow DAP national leaders to sue Utusan Malaysia for carrying false reports that maliciously defamed him as having insulted Islam.

He said all DAP leaders throughout the country will follow the directive by the party’s secretary-general Lim Guan Eng to immediately file civil suits against any newspapers that had defamed them.

“I did not insult Islam. Obviously, Utusan Malaysia’s reports are politically motivated,” Ooi said in a statement.

“As such, I have instructed my legal team to proceed with the legal action immediately in order to uphold my rights as a legislator and a Malaysian citizen under Utusan’s malicious attacks.”

So far, at least three other DAP MPs had initiated legal suits against Utusan Malaysia for defamation, namely party chairman Karpal Singh, secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and party organising secretary Teresa Kok.

Referring to an Utusan Malaysia story dated February 24, 2009, which carried a frontpage lead story under the headline: “DAP hina Islam?”, Ooi said the Malay daily has established a consistent pattern to defame DAP and its leaders as anti-Islam in order to arouse hatred among the Muslims against them.

“We filed a police report in Kuala Lumpur on the same day the false report appeared,” Ooi said. “However, apart from a statement taken from me by the Sentul police station, there was no action taken against the newspaper.”

He said the newspaper’s reports had since developed into persistent religious profiling of DAP leaders, with the latest targets being Rasah MP and DAP Youth chief Loke Siew Fook, and him.

Utusan Malaysia pursued the pattern by carrying a series of articles over days, branding DAP leaders as anti-Islam, and on August 13, 2009, it published a frontpage story to trigger a series of police investigations on the two members of parliament.

“Using the headline ‘Syor dakwa Siew Fook, Ooi’, Utusan Malaysia obviously had passed the judgment that both are guilty until proven innocent,” Ooi said.

Loke was interviewed by the police at his service centre in Seremban on August 14, while Ooi had his statement taken (as a witness) at his Jelutong service centre on August 16.

Ooi is a member of DAP central executive committee, the deputy director of political education as well as the Chief-of-Staff at the Penang Chief Minister’s Office. He is also instrumental in starting the social-political blogging movement in Malaysia.

END

R.S.N. Rayer, a member of my legal team who accompanied me throughout the police interview this morning, told the media that a letter of demand will be sent to Utusan Melayu (M) Berhad, the publisher of the Utusan Malaysia daily, tomorrow.

If correction and apology are not forthcoming within 7 days, full-scale defamation suit shall follow.