JUDGMENT

Aliza Sulaiman J:

[1] In 2014, the plaintiff, who needs no introduction, decided to publish an autobiography of herself entitled "Becoming Hannah: A Personal Journey" ('Book'). Little did she know then that the contents of the Book would be the subject of, not just one, but two defamation suits.

[2] In the present case, the plaintiff commenced a claim for defamation against the defendant in relation to two articles which were written and published in the defendant's Facebook page ('FB') on 10 and 17 May 2017 and alleged to contain defamatory statements.

[3] After a full trial, I found that the plaintiff has proven her claim on a balance of probabilities and thus, she was awarded a global sum of RM400,000.00 as general damages and aggravated damages (RM200,000.00 per publication) with interest thereon and costs. The plaintiff's prayer for an injunction to be issued restraining the defendant, his servants or agents from publishing the impugned words or anything similar to these words was also allowed.

[4] The Defendant is unsurprisingly aggrieved by my decision and is pursuing his right of appeal.

[5] These are my full grounds of judgment.

Background Facts

[6] At the pre-trial case management, the parties reached consensus on the Agreed Facts as follows.

"1. The Plaintiff is Yeoh Tseow Suan, commonly known as Hannah Yeoh, a Malaysian citizen of legal age with an address for service at Lot No LG-09A, Level LG, United Point, 10 Jalan Lang Emas, 51200 Kuala Lumpur.

2. The Plaintiff is an advocate and solicitor of the High Court of Malaya. She is a politician and currently the Member of Parliament for Segambut, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. She was also a Member of the Selangor State Legislative Assembly for Subang Jaya from 208 to 2018. The Plaintiff is the former Speaker of the Selangor State Legislative Assembly and a former Deputy Minister for the Ministry for Women, Family, and Community Development.

3. The Defendant is a Malaysian citizen of legal age, with an address for service at No 11B, Siaran Naib Canselor, Universiti Utara Malaysia, 06010, Sintok, Kedah Darul Aman.

4. On 10 May 2017, the defendant authored and published, and/or caused to be published, on his public Facebook page(https://www. facebook.com/kamarul.yusoff. 7/post s/1529934363717283), a post titled "HANNAH YEOH CONTOH HIPOKRASI TERBESAR DAP" ("the first publication").

5. In the first publication, the Defendant authored and published, and/or caused to be published, statements about the plaintiff, including the following:

"HANNAH YEOH CONTOH HIPOKRASI TERBESAR DAP"

Tertera di mana-mana sahaja dalam pernyataan dan ucapan DAP peri pentingnya prinsipsekularisme dalam perjuangan politik DAP. Kononnya, bagi DAP, Malaysia adalah sebuah negara sekular yang perlu kekal sebagai sebuah negara sekular. Kononnya urusan politik perlu dipisahkan daripada urusan agama. Kononnya pihak yang mahu mencampurkan urusan politik dengan urusan agama, sama ada PAS atau UMNO, perlu ditentang habis-habisan.

Bagaimanapun, sedarkah kita bahawa tatkala DAP melaung-laungkan supaya urusan politik dipisahkan daripada urusan agama, pemimpin DAP sendiri sebenarnya sangat giat mencampurkan urusan politik dengan urusan agama? Dan sebuah buku tulisan Speaker Dewan Undangan Negeri Selangor merangkap Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri Subang Jaya, Hannah Yeoh, bertajuk "Becoming Hannah" ("Menjadi Hannah") adalah salah satu bukti nyata mengenainya.

Di dalam buku ini, Hannah Yeoh secara terbuka mengakui bagaimana penglibatan beliau di dalam bidang politik dibantu oleh pihak Kristian, baik dari segi dana mahupun kempen, bagaimana beliau menggunakan kedudukan politik beliau untuk berdakwah mengenai agama Kristian dan sebagainya. Lebih dari itu, beliau juga menyeru ahli-ahli Felo Kristian Seberang Laut khususnya dan penganut agama Kristian umumnya untuk mengikut jejak langkah beliau menceburkan diri dalam bidang politik untuk membina semula Malaysia mengikut acuan agama Kristian.

Jelas berdasarkan kepada segala pe