Ex-Melaka CM sues DAP leaders for defamation
Published on: Saturday, October 17, 2020
By: Bernama
Abdul Rahim (right) seeks, among others, general, aggravated and exemplary damages and other orders deem appropriate by the court.
Kuala Lumpur: Former Chief Minister of Melaka Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik has filed a suit against DAP assistant secretary-general Khoo Poay Tiong and the party for allegedly defaming him in an article that linked him to various scandals.Abdul Rahim filed the suit via legal firm The Chambers of Frida on Sept 17.
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Besides Khoo, Abdul Rahim also named DAP office bearers - national chairman Tan Kok Wai, Gobind Singh Deo (deputy chairman) and Lim Guan Eng (secretary-general) - as the second to fourth defendants.
In his statement of claim, Abdul Rahim alleged that on Dec 16, 2018, Khoo, who is also Kota Melaka MP, had written, published and/or caused an article to be published, with defamatory words linking him to various scandals, on his Facebook page, DAP website www.dapmalaysia.org and a news portal www.thestar.com.my.
The plaintiff also claimed that Tan, Gobind and Lim had published and/or caused the article to be published on the party’s website until it can be accessed and shared in blogs, forums and portals without limitations.
Abdul Rahim claimed that the alleged defamatory words had described him as, among others, a corrupt, involved in sexual crimes, abuse of power and malpractice, which he said were untrue, baseless and published with malicious intent.
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According to the plaintiff who resigned as the Melaka Chief Minister in October 1994, the allegations and insinuations have benefited the first defendant as a politician but at the same time caused maximum damage to his reputation.
Abdul Rahim alleged that although he had, via his lawyer, demanded Khoo to retract the article and apologise in a letter dated Feb 18, 2019, the first defendant refused to do so and even challenged him to file the suit.
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However, Abdul Rahim said ‘The Star’ newspaper had published a statement on July 27, 2019, titled “Sorry, Rahim Tamby Chik is not father of scandals” to apologise to him over the article.
Abdul Rahim seeks, among others, general, aggravated and exemplary damages and other orders deem appropriate by the court.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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