Varghese George J:

This was an action by the plaintiff against the defendant for damages in libel allegedly arising from material printed and published in a daily newspaper with a wide circulation in the nation.

The plaintiff was at the material time of the publication the Chief Minister of the State of Pulau Pinang, the Member of Parliament for the Bagan Parliamentary Constituency and the State Assembly Member for the State Constituency of Air Puteh. The plaintiff was also the Secretary-General of the Democratic Action Party (‘DAP’).

The defendant admitted that it was the owner, publisher, and printer of the newspaper under the banner name Utusan Malaysia on weekdays (and Mingguan Malaysia on Sundays) where the alleged defamatory material was published and circulated.

It was the plaintiff’s allegation that the defendant had wrongfully and with intention to defame the plaintiff published in the Utusan Malaysia issue of 20 December 2010 an article under the title ‘Kebiadaban Guan Eng’ and in para 4 of the statement of claim the following paragraphs from the contents of that article were specifically identified to have defamed the plaintiff:

Jika ucapan Lim Guan Eng di Konvensyen Pakatan Rakyat yang berlangsung di Kepala Batas, semalam diambil kira, Setiausaha Agung DAP itu tidak boleh marahkan sesiapa kalau beliau dianggap bersikap rasis dan menentang apa sahaja yang berkaitan dengan Melayu.

[1]

Gambaran yang cuba diberikan oleh Guan Eng secara tersirat ialah apa sahaja perjuangan yang berkaitan dengan Melayu tidak harus dibiarkan dan harus ditentang oleh pakatan pembangkang yang turut dianggotai oleh Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) dan PAS.

[4]

Kedua-dua parti berkenaan sememanganya diketuai oleh orang Melayu tetapi apabila Guan Eng menyerang orang Melayu dan institusi Melayu mereka hanya menyokong.

[5]

Orang Melayu tidak mendapat apa-apa malahan ditindas satu demi satu satu perkampungan mereka dilenyapkan di bumi Pulau Pinang atas nama pembangunan.

[9]

Perarakan Maulidur Nabi pula dihalang dan peniaga Melayu dicegah berniaga di KOMTAR di bulan Ramadhan, apakah ini pemimpin yang tidak rasis dan mengutamakan semua kaum?

[10]

Tetapi apakah Guan Eng, rakyat Malaysia tulen apabila mengusir penduduk kaum India di Kampung Buah Pala dan menghalau penduduk Melayu di Kampung Genting semata-mata untuk membina sebuah cawangan universiti.

[12]

Sebab itulah Guan Eng mahupun DAP tanpa segan silu atau rasa bersalah menyerang institusi Melayu dan melakukan tindakan menyinggung orang Melayu

[28]

(The number in parenthesis given at the foot of each of the identified defamatory statements above denotes the number of the corresponding seven paragraphs in the article published on 20 December 2010, which in total contained 31 paragraph and other highlighted material.)

At para 5 of the statement of claim, the plaintiff went on to claim that given the ordinary and natural meaning of the words contained therein, the identified defamatory statements meant or was intended to bear or had in effect one or all of the following imputations:

(a)beliau adalah bersikap rasis dan menentang apa sahaja yang berkaitan dengan Melayu.

(b)beliau di Konvensyen Pakatan Rakyat memberi gambaran bahawa apa sahaja perjuangan yang berkaitan dengan Melayu tidak harus dibiarkan dan harus ditentang oleh pakatan pembangkang

(c)beliau menyerang orang Melayu dan institusi Melayu;

(d)beliau menindas orang Melayu dengan melenyapkan satu per satu perkampungan mereka di Pulau Pinang;

(e)beliau membatalkan perarakan Maulidur Nabi;

(f)beliau mencegah peniaga Melayu berniaga di Komtar pada bulan Ramadan;

(g)beliau merobohkan Kampung Buah Pala dan perkampungan Melayu di Kampong Genting dan Kampung Pokok Asam; dan

(h)beliau menggunakan dana dari sumber perjudian bagi program warga emas.

The plaintiff further claimed that the alleged defamatory statements were untrue and had been published with intention to disparage the plaintiff in public and to lower the plaintiff’s reputation and standing socially and in the offices h