JUDGMENT

Choong Yeow Choy JC:

Introduction

[1] The main action concerns a claim of defamation. It is well established that any impugned defamatory statement must be fully pleaded in the Statement of Claim. The Plaintiff has done so. However, the distinctiveness of the present Notice of Application before this Court lies in the fact that, although the impugned statements were fully reproduced in the original pleadings, the Plaintiff failed to provide a translation of these statements into the Malay language. Consequently, the Plaintiff has filed the present interlocutory application in encl 36, seeking to amend the pleadings to include the necessary translations of the impugned defamatory statements.

The Issues Before This Court

[2] The overriding issue in the present application is whether this Court should exercise its discretionary power and allow the amendments sought by the Plaintiff. In determining this prevailing issue in encl 36, this Court is required to consider the following subsidiary issues, namely:

• First, whether there was delay on the part of the Plaintiff in making the present application and if the answer is in the affirmative, whether the delay is fatal;

• Secon