JUDGMENT

Raja Ahmad Mohzanuddin Shah J:

[Enclosure 8]

Preliminary

[1] By way of encl 8, the defendant is seeking leave from this Court to file a Reply to Defence to Counterclaim. The purpose of this is to reply to the plaintiffs' Reply to Defence and Defence to Counterclaim.

[2] The application is made in accordance with O 18 r 4 of the Rules of 2012 ("ROC 2012"), which provides that:

Pleadings subsequent to reply (O 18 r 4)

4. Pleadings subsequent to a reply or a defence to a counterclaim shall not be served except with the leave of the Court .

An Overview Of The Facts Of The Case

[3] The suit involves a claim of defamation.

[4] The parties involved here are all what are commonly referred to as influencers in today's world.

[5] The plaintiffs claim that the defendant had defamed them by mentioning their names in subsequent postings, which followed two main articles written by the defendant in a news portal on a matter in which local radio station deejays were fined by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission ("MCMC") for mentioning religiously sensitive topics in one of their radio segments.

[6] The defamation postings allegedly suggested that the plaintiffs were not sensiti