KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 — The High Court will hear on Sept 30 the Malaysian government’s application to strike out a defamation suit brought against it by former Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) secretary-general Chin Peng and members of the defunct organisation.
If the court dismisses the government’s striking out application, then it will proceed to hear on the same day (Sept 30) the merits of the suit.
The case came up for case management before senior assistant registrar Nazri Ismail in chambers this afternoon where Nazri also fixed Sept 10 for further case management to enable Chin Peng to submit the agreed bundle of documents on the matter.
Senior Federal Counsel Amarjeet Singh and Federal Counsel Wan Roslan Wan Ismail appeared for the government while Chin Peng was represented by counsel Chan Kok Keong.
Chin Peng, born Ong Boon Hua, 85, had filed the suit on behalf of himself and his followers, seeking a declaration that the agreement signed between the Government of Malaysia and the CPM to terminate hostility in 1989 and the administrative arrangement, was still valid, enforceable and binding on the government.
He claimed that the terms expressed in the agreement was that CPM agreed to terminate all armed activities and also among others, agreed that any press statement issued by both the government and Chin Peng shall not contain slanderous terms.
In his statement of claims, Chin Peng also sought damages and an injunction to prevent the Malaysian government or its agents from making defamatory statements about him and former CPM members.
The suit was filed following reports on March 21 and May 6, 2005 that the then Deputy Information Minister Datuk Zainuddin Maidin had announced that Radio Televisyen Malaysia would air documentaries on the atrocities committed by the communist insurgents after the Second World War and for a decade following Malaysia’s independence.
In its statement of defence, the government said that from the aspects of history and public knowledge, the reputation of Chin Peng and other members of his party had already been ruined in the eyes of the public all this while. The government claimed that it did not breach the agreement and that the statement allegedly uttered by Zainuddin was the truth and historically factual.
Chin Peng, who was born in Sitiawan, Perak, now lives in Thailand and has resorted to the Malaysian courts to return to Malaysia to live out the rest of his days. However, he was unsuccessful in obtaining leave from the Federal Court on April 30 to hear his appeal against two lower courts’ decisions compelling him to produce his identification documents to prove that he is a Malaysian citizen before he could pursue his legal action against the Malaysian government. — Bernama
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