JUDGMENT

Quay Chew Soon J:

Introduction

[1] The Plaintiff ("P") is the Chairman of the Democratic Action Party (DAP). The 1st Defendant ("D1") is the Vice President of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA). The 2nd Defendant ("D2") is in the business of media publication, better known as The Star, with an online version known as The Star Online. The instant suit is a defamation action brought by P against the Defendants. After a full trial, I dismissed P's claim. Here are the grounds of my judgment.

The Trial

[2] The trial took place over the course of 3 consecutive days on 20 February 2023, 21 February 2023 and 22 February 2023. The witnesses who testified at the trial were:

Background Facts

[3] The dispute herein emanates from the change of name of Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) Kuek Ho Yao ("School"). The public controversy and uncertainty on whether the name of the School was going to be changed had started in March 2019, due to the need to replace the developer of the School after the 2018 General Election. The media reported on several occasions that the issue on the naming of the School was to be left to the new developer.

[4] At a meeting on 10 November 2019, the name of th