JUDGMENT

John Lee Kien How @ Mohd Johan Lee JC:

A. Introduction

[1] The plaintiff in this case filed this claim ('this Claim') for damages against the defendant for a picture collage which consists of a few WhatsApp messages exchanged between him and the defendant ('the Impugned Posting').

i. Background Facts

[2] The plaintiff is the founder, Chairman and Group Managing Director of Eversden Group of Companies. Meanwhile, the defendant is the Managing Director and one of the shareholders of Linsun Engineering Sdn Bhd. It is known that there was a civil suit ('the civil suit') initiated by Linsun Engineering Sdn Bhd against Shin Eversendai Engineering (M) Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Eversendai Group of Companies on the dispute of a nonpayment under a subcontract entered by them.

[3] The crux of this Claim is that the Impugned Posting created and posted by the defendant is deemed to be defamatory against the plaintiff. For ease of reference, the Impugned Posting is produced as follows:

[4] The Impugned Posting was allegedly posted to a WhatsApp group called DG Chat Group ("the DG Chat Group"). The DG Chat Group was administrated by one Dato' Gopinath a/l Supramaniam who was the plaintiff's firs