Hamid Sultan Abu Backer JC:

[1] This is my Judgment in respect of the plaintiff's defamation suit against the 2nd to 5th Defendants. The action against the 1st Defendant, a well known politician has been settled out of Court. And the plaintiff claims against 2nd and 5th Defendants: (i) damages of up to RM25,000,000 for libel and slander;(ii) aggravated damages of up to RM10,000,000 for libel and slander; and (iii) exemplary damages of up to RM5,000,000 for libel and slander and against the 3rd and 4th Defendants: (i) damages of up to RM1,000,000 for libel and slander; (ii) aggravated damages of up to RM1,000,000 for libel and slander; and (iii) exemplary damages of up to RM1,000,000 for libel and slander.

[2] At the commencement of the hearing, parties have agreed that the case can be heard by way of: (i) witness statement for examination in chief; (ii) preliminary cross-examination witness statement, with full liberty to further cross-examine orally (for purposes of cross-examination); (iii) preliminary re-examination statement with full liberty to further re-examination if there is further oral examination. The Court is extremely grateful to the parties for agreeing to such a mode as the preliminary cross-examination witness statement will save much of the Court's time to deal with peripheral matters and for all practical purposes, preliminary cross-examination witness statement will stand as interrogatories and answers thereto only, as the right of oral cross-examination to the litigant is preserved during the whole trial.

Brief Facts (Plaintiff's Version)

[3] the plaintiff is a well known politician and once the Chief Minister of Sabah. At the material time, the 2nd Defendant was the owner and/or publisher of Berita Harian, the 3rd Defendant, the editor, the 4th Defendant, the reporter and/or writer of the said defamatory art and the 5th Defendant, the printer (Defendants). On 20 June 1998, some statements made by the 1st Defendant which were defamatory of the plaintiff were published in the Berita Harian. Paragraph 7 of the statement of claim particularly says the statement was made by the 1st Defendant on 19 June 1998, at the People Rakyat Session or conference or meeting. The statement was published as an art written by the 4th Defendant. And the English translation of the art read as follows:

Investigate land owned by ex Chief Minister

By Muhd Yusuf Abu Bakar

Pulau Banggi (Kudat), Friday - The state Government had been asked to explain to the residents of the state in relation to the transfer of the ownership of the land here which belonged to the Government's agency, Sabah Cattle Farm to the ex-Chief Minister Sabah, Datuk Harris Salleh.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Information, Datuk Shafie Apdal said the Government must investigate how did the ownership of Government agency land measuring approximately 2,500 hectares which was allocated for dairy cattle farming had been transferred to an individual.

"The state Government must give explanation to the residents of Pulau Banggi and the state in connection with the transfer of the land concerned to Harris who is now developing teak plantation in the area concerned" he said.

He said this to Berita Harian after the visit to Pulau Banggi. Also present was the assistant district officer of Pulau Banggi, Nahalan Medunah.

The Berjaya Government led by Harris through the subsidiary Company of Sabah Cattle Farm developed an area measuring of 2,500 hectares at Pulau Banggi for dairy cattle farming in the 70's, but it was not successful.

The abandoned area has been taken by Harris for teak wood plantation. This caused muttering among the residents concerning the status of the ownership of the land concerned.

According to him, many agricultural areas which were formerly owned by the Government or its agency had been transferred to Harris, at the time he was leading the Berjaya Government.

Harris is currently leading party Barisan Rakyat Sabah Bersekutu (Bersekutu).

Shafi