RK Nathan J:

The Claim

The plaintiff's claim against the defendants is for damages for libel as well as for malicious falsehood, together with interest on any damages awarded and costs in respect of words published in an article under the heading:

Ostrich farms should provide prospectus

appearing in the issue of the "New Sunday Times" dated 23 March 1997.

Facts

The plaintiff is in the business of ostrich farming having begun the said business in December 1995 after obtaining pioneer status on 22 August 1996. The 1st defendant was the writer of the said article. The 2nd and 3rd defendants were at all material times the assistant editor and publisher of the said newspaper.

The plaintiff had advertised its business in "The Malay Mail" on Wednesday, 19 March 1997, which advertisement had appeared before the publication of the said article.

The Defence

The defences raised were that the words in the article were not defamatory of the plaintiff, that the article was a fair comment upon a matter of public interest, namely the issue concerning advertisements to the public by promoters of ostrich breeding and whether these attempts to solicit investments from the general public