To succeed in a defamation claim, the Plaintiff must prove the statements are defamatory, refer to them, and are published to a third party, all of which were unmet in this case.

JUDGMENT

Arik Sanusi Yeop Johari JC:

Introduction

[1] This is a defamation suit filed by the Plaintiff against the Defendant for the following claims:

(a) general damages;

(b) aggravated damages;

(c) exemplary damages;

(d) prohibitory injunction to stop the Defendant from slandering the Plaintiff;

(e) interests;

(f) costs; and

(g) other reliefs that the Court thinks fit.

[2] After hearing and considering all the evidence and submissions by both the learned counsels for the Plaintiff and the Defendant, this Court finds that the Plaintiff has failed to prove his case against the Defendant on the balance of probabilities. Therefore, this Court has struck out the Plaintiff's claim with costs of RM15,000.00 subject to the allocator.

Background Facts

[3] The Plaintiff is an individual residing at No 15, Taman Desa Murni, Guar Chempedak, 08800 Gurun, Kedah Darul Aman.

[4] The Defendant is an individual residing at No 1, Taman Desa Aman, Guar Chempedak, 08800 Gurun, Kedah Darul Aman.

[5] The Plaintiff and the Defendant were former partners and directors of a company called Positive Meriah Sdn Bhd ("PMSB"). They were running and operating PMSB's business using the Defendant's premises bearing No 299 and No 299A, Jalan Junun, 08800 Guar Chempedak, Kedah Darul Aman ("the said houses").

[6] Due to some disagreements between the Plaintiff and the Defendant, the High Court of Pulau Pinang had ordered PMSB to be wound up on 21 November 2011. The matter went up to the Court of Appeal and by a Consent Judgment dated 25 January 2013, both parties had agreed for PMSB to be wound up.

The Plaintiff's Claim

[7] According to the Plaintiff's Statement of Claim, on 19 November 2016 at about 10.30 am at the coffee shop in Gurun, the Defendant had uttered statements in Teochew dialect slandering the Plaintiff in front of all the customers and sellers. The alleged statements were contained in the first video clip which was marked as Exhibit P3(c) and its English translation was marked as Exhibit P3(a). The translation is as follows:

"Take, you just take all, you are dirty, money all you swallow, now you have the money, all dirty money, mad man in talking. The business of the company you took all. Got to you. What more? Two houses also took by force. You swallow all, hands holding joss sticks, joss sticks that you burn at home, smoke and dirty".

"Tan Boon Ping you listen....".

[8] The Plaintiff submitted that the Defendant's defamatory statements (slander) in the normal and natural meaning of the content mean:

(a) the Plaintiff is unethical;

(b) the Plaintiff is immoral;

(c) the Plaintiff is a cheater;

(d) the Plaintiff cheated the money belonging to the Defendant and PMSB; and

(e) the Plaintiff cannot be trusted.

[9] The Plaintiff further submitted that the statements uttered by the Defendant were really an outburst to defame the Plaintiff. The defamatory statements and/or slander had caused the Plaintiff to be under spotlight of the coffee shop customers and the community surrounding the Plaintiff. This had discredited the Plaintiff, tarnished and injured the Plaintiff's good character and reputation as a businessman and lowered the standing and/or status of the Plaintiff among the residents in Gurun, Kedah.

[10] The Plaintiff also submitted that the Defendant's defamatory statements had raised a reasonable cause of action for slander as pleaded by the Plaintiff under O 78 r 3(1) of Rules of 2012 ("ROC 2012").

[11] Therefore, the Plaintiff through his solicitors sent a Notice of Action dated 4 January 2017 to the Defendant demanding, among others, a retraction of the statements and an apology to the Plaintiff. Despite that, the Defendant failed, neglected and refused to comply to the said Notice of Action. Hence, the Plaintiff filed this action.

[12] The Plaintiff had called three witnesses to testify for and on their behalf and they are:

(a) Tan Boon Ping (the Plaintiff) [SP1];

(b) Chan Lee Fong (the interpreter) [SP2]; and

(c) Tan Geit Kiang (the Plaintiff's wife) [SP3].

The Defendan