Julie Lack J:

GROUNDS OF JUDGMENT Introduction

[1]This is an action by the Plaintiff for defamation which arose from the publication of statements by the Defendant found on the WhatsApp group known as “Taiwan University Alumni Association Negeri Sembilan (“TUAANS WhatsApp Group”).

[2]The Defendant disputed the claim, denying that he was the author of those alleged statements and alternatively he raised the defence of justification and fair comment.

Parties

[3]In the year 2016 the Plaintiff was a member of Chung Yuan University (Taiwan) Alumni Association Malaysia (CYUAA) which nominated him for the position of President in the Federation of Alumni Association of Taiwan Universities Malaysia (FAATUM).

[4]The Defendant was the Vice President of the Federation of Alumni Association of Taiwan Universities Malaysia.

Brief Background Facts

[5]The Annual General Meeting and election of the 22^nd Election and Appointment of General Committee Members for FAATUM was set on 17.4.2016. At the meeting the Plaintiff was elected as its President.

[6]On or about 16.12.2016, it came to light that the registration of CYUAA had been revoked on or about 8.6.2015. This information was received via letter written by the Sabah State Registry of Societies dated 13.12.2016 addressed to one Dato Ting Siew Haw. The contents of this letter was circulated on WhatsApp to all the members.

[7]Upon coming to know of this the Plaintiff announced the termination of his tenure as the President of FAATUM and directed for a re-election to be conducted. A re-election exercise was conducted on 12.2.2017 and the Plaintiff failed to defend his seat as President.

[8]The Plaintiff has averred that both he and CYUAA were unaware of the revocation status of CYUAA until receipt of the letter from the Sabah State Registry of Societies.

[9]The Plaintiff alleged that the Defendant had made defamatory statements against the Plaintiff on the WhatsApp group named “Taiwan University Alumni Association Negeri Sembilan (TUAANS) WhatsApp Group. These defamatory statements can be read by all the members in the TUAANS WhatsApp Group. The Plaintiff has alleged that those statements had affected him adversely and had resulted in harm to his reputation.

[10]The impugned statements in Mandarin (and the English translation of them in italic) circulated by the Defendant that the Plaintiff claims are defamatory of him are reproduced as follows:

[11]The Plaintiff stated in his evidence that he had personally read and seen the exact same WhatsApp message as that contained in ID 1 from the handphone that was shown to him at the material time.

[12]As a result, the Plaintiff sought legal advice as he felt that his reputation had been tarnished and subsequently filed this suit against the Defendant for defamation.

[13]The Defendant filed the first of his striking out application under Order 18 Rule 19 Rules of Court 2012 against the Plaintiff to strike out the Writ and Statement of Claim dated 7.9.2018.

[14]The application was allowed by the Shah Alam High Court on 29.3.2019.

[15]The Plaintiff appealed to the Court of Appeal against the said decision and the appeal was allowed and the matter referred back to the Shah Alam High Court to proceed with full trial.

[16]On 11.8.2020 the Defendant successfully applied to amend the Statement of Defence. Thereafter the Defendant filed a 2^nd striking out application on 29.9.2020 to strike out the Plaintiff’s Writ and Statement of Claim.

[17]The High Court allowed that application and the Plaintiff appealed against that decision. That appeal was allowed on 8.11.2022, hence the reason for this trial.

[18]The Plaintiff filed this action to claim against the Defendant for the following reliefs:-

a)that an apology be made by the Defendant to the Plaintiff and the apology is to be published to all the members of FAATUM;

b)general damages;

c)aggravated damages;

d)an undertaking by the Defendant to desist from continuing to make those defamatory statements to any party in the future;

e)an in