The court emphasizes the requirement of responsible journalism as a condition for the Reynolds Privilege defense, reaffirming the need for fair steps in verifying public interest statements.

Introduction

[1] This is an appeal from the judgment of the Court of Appeal that reversed the judgment of the High Court. The appeal arises from an action brought in the High Court by the appellant, Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (the plaintiff in the High Court). The appellant sued the respondent, Tony Pua Kiam Wee (the defendant in the High Court) for defamation in relation to words that he uttered at a forum that were later published in an article in two local newspapers.

[2] We will describe the parties in this judgment as they appear in the High Court, namely the appellant as the plaintiff and the respondent as the defendant.

[3] The High Court had on 6 June 2012, after full trial, allowed the plaintiffs claim and ordered the defendant to pay RM200,000.00 in general damages. The defendant appealed to the Court of Appeal and on 27 March 2013, the Court of Appeal set aside the High Court orders. Aggrieved by the judgment of the Court of Appeal, the plaintiff applied for leave to appeal to the Federal Court under s 96(a) of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 and on 18 March 2014, this Court granted leave to appeal to the plaintiff on five questions of law.

Background Facts

[4] The background facts are very straightforward. The plaintiff is a company incorporated to undertake the privatisation of water supply services in the State of Selangor and the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya ("the Concession Area"). The plaintiff is the sole supplier and distributor of water in the Concession Area.

[5] The defendant is a member of the Democratic Action Party, holding the post of National Publicity Secretary. The defendant was elected to the Malaysian Parliament by the constituency of Petaling Jaya Utara in 2008. The defendant is a member of the Malaysian Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee. The defendant is also a member of the Selangor State Government Water Review Panel appointed by the Selangor State Government. He is also an active contributor to public debate on public interest issues in Malaysia, including the issue of water supply rights.

[6] On 28 January 2011, the plaintiff commenced legal proceedings against the defendant for defamation in relation to words uttered by the defendant at a forum on 14 November 2010 ("the Impugned Words"), which were subsequently published in an article in Nanyang Siang Pau, the Metro Edition on 16 November 2010. The agreed English translation of the article, as reproduced in the judgment of the High Court, with the Impugned Words appearing in bold reads as follows:

"DAPs publicity secretary Tony Pua said, Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (SYABAS) is urged to return the management rights of water supply to the Selangor Government, the Selangor state Government will aggressively launch a signature campaign to return water rights to the people of Selangor this month, after collecting 100,000 signatures they will be submitted to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on 5 December 2010.

He said, after the break-down of negotiations for the Selangor Governments plan to take over the four water concessionaires, (the Selangor Government) launched the signature campaign to return water rights to the people, to ensure the water tariff in the State of Selangor will not be increased by 37%.

The provision of water services in Selangor is managed by four companies, some companies experienced cash flow problems, they do not have enough cash flow to repay their debts, they (sic) requested that a restructuring be done, the four companies merged into 1.

He said, during the negotiation between the Selangor sta