Looks and sounds like me, but not me, says Ibrahim Ali over racist video

Perkasa chief Datuk Ibrahim Ali disagreed that he had uttered racist remarks against the Indian and Chinese communities after a video showing him making a racist speech was played in court.

“It looks like me, it sounds like me... but the movement of the mouth isn’t consistent with what the image was saying... so it might not be me.

“I disagree that it’s me,” Ibrahim told the Shah Alam High Court today.

He was testifying during cross-examination in his defamation suit against theSun, its former managing editor Chong Cheng Hai and deputy editor, special reports and investigations Terence Fernandez.

Ibrahim is suing the paper and its then senior editors for an article written by Fernandez on the Sultan of Selangor’s refusal to launch Perkasa’s first general assembly.

Ibrahim claims that the article, which was published on March 17, 2010, was the first to label him a racist and chauvinist.

Earlier, Ibrahim told the court that the article had caused him to lose the opportunity to stand as a Barisan Nasional candidate in the 13th general election.

During the cross examination, the defence presented a number of articles in various publications that showed Ibrahim’s strong leanings towards promoting Malay rights and Islam.

One article published by Mingguan mStar dated March 28, 2010 touched on an allegedly defamatory article titled: “Perkasa President Cannot Be Prime Minister”.

In reference to the article, Ibrahim alleged that the writer Nurul Ain Mohd Hussain had got her facts wrong regarding his audience with the Sultan of Selangor, but he did not pursue the mistake as he “did not have enough time”.

“So many reporters call me for interviews... I can’t recall everything. Sometimes during exclusives you speak a lot, you say a lot of things but when it’s published, the reporters will shorten the sentences, they might take it out of context or spin it.

“When the reporter brought up that question, it was like the reporter put words into my mouth. I was answering her question but it ended up looking as if the Sultan brought up the topic (concerning the alleged chauvinism shown by him and Perkasa) and I discussed the issue with the Sultan,” said Ibrahim.

He claimed that many publications and articles featuring him had “got it wrong” and were not entirely accurate. However, he decided to brush aside the other reports due to time constraints and because the errors were “not serious enough”.

He is demanding an apology as well as exemplary and general damages from the defendants.

Ibrahim is represented by Harmy Yusoff, while Datuk Nitin Nadkarni, Himahlini Ramalingam and G.Meerasree are appearing for the defendants.

Hearing continues on Thursday. – The Edge Financial Daily, January 21, 2015.

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