MGG Pillai Commentary View

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Defamation and libel laws inhibit political debate in Malaysia

DEFAMATION AND LIBEL LAWS prevent political debate in Malaysia. They are used by National Front, especially UMNO, hacks and politicians to get their way, usually in silence. They then ask their critics, even if they are MPs, to apologise or else. They take their cue from the government, which does not bother with such niceties as explaining their actions, but woe betide any who has the right to ask questions. It was Singapore which led the way, bankrupting opposition politicians so that they would be removed from the political scene. The PAP does not have opposition of any note in Singapoore – yet. The National Front thought the PAP's handling of its opposition is what they would like to see in Malaysia. Malaysia, however, has an opposition as vigorous as the National Front, and is reduced over the years by the government passing laws that work to their disadvantage.

It is not often realised that about 25 per cent of the opposition in Parliament, and significant in some of the state assemblies, were left wing parties, At the time, the government did not want left wing parties to survive, branding them as 'pro-communist'. There were usually Chinese-based political parties, although Malay parties also existed. It was the era of the Socialist Front – a front formed when the Malay-based Party Rakyat Malaysia joined hands with the Chinese-based Labour Party. The government accused most of its leaders as being communist, and when the riots took place in May 1969, the Labour Party was a shadow of its old self, its leaders joined other parties, notably the Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia, which split into two when it decided to form the government in Penang after it captured the state. The PRSM has now joined Keadilan – which resulted in a split into PRM and Parti Socialis Malaysi to form Parti Keadilan Rakyat – and its vice president, Dr Husin Ali, spent years under detention under the Internal Security Act for his political views. But had it not been for the Labour Front, the George Town City Council would not be the cash cow that the National Front now pillages in secret.

Over the years, MPs were kept in the dark, and when they asked questions, they were threatened with defamation suits. The National Front got its favourite business men to silence the journalists. Tan Sri Vincent Tan took me to court, and on a serious of moves which showed that he gets the judges he wants, won all the way to the federal court. By then he was out, the I was given a rehearing of the Federal Court on the grounds that the Chief Justice had gone on a holiday with the lawyer for Tan Sri Vincent Tan. This was followed by Tan Sri Ting Pek Khiing of Ekran, who sued me in Miri and I have to go there to file. Both are friends of the former prime minister, Tun Mahathir Mohamed. Tan Sri Ting's case did not go any further after he could not justitify his claim as events caught up with them, is now out of the corporate scene, a diabetic in Singapore. Tan Sri Vincent is ignored by the prime minister's friends now, and his flagship, Berjaya Corporation, owes RM800 million, most to its subsidiary. Defamation action will succeed, in Malaysia and Singapore, is it is quickly settled. The National Kidney Foundation in Singapore sued any one who said it was spending unnecessary money, but according to a government-appointed firm of accounts, it seems it did. But the National Kidney Foundation is in trouble, and the newspapers there go to town, because the PAP wants to bring down a popular politician.

Now the defamation laws are used in Malaysia to shut an MP up. Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, the son-in-law of the prime minister with no known job, suddenly has RM9.2 million to invest in ECM Libra. A PAS MP, Mr Husam Musa, asked questions about him, which were printed in harakahhaily.com. It had damaged ECM Libra and Mr Khairy that he is asked to apologise. Neither the online paper nor he will. But neither ECM Libra nor Mr Khairy has send them a writ. They have just asked for an apology and a promise that a writ will follow. Most people would get frightened at such a notice. But Mr Husam and harakahdaily.,com would not. In my case, I went on a rampage. I have been tthreatened over the years with detention under the Internal Security Act. I have been told to join them. I have been told I am on a collision course with authority. But I saw the light when the defamation actions against me. I am stubborn, and defamation actions against me showed I was doing some things right. Any one who sues me will have to fight all the way to, if possible, the supreme court – it can take ten years or more, in the end, the prime minister may change, and they may wish they did not act against me. As Tan Sri Vincent Tan sorely wishes now.

If Malaysians want to enter politics, when in the National Front or the opposition, they must not depend on defamation laws to push them forward. But the opposition does not use it as the National Front politician does. Today, the National Front is in disarrary. The individual parties are, with the leading party, UMNO, more than the others. Those in UMNO go against Mr Khairy in this. They work on the principle that "my enemy's enemy is my friend". They do not agree with Mr Khairy moving ahead after he married the prime minister's daughter. He is a nobody in UMNO – he has a high post in UMNO Youth, which he got by getting his opponents to withdraw or promising them positions – but he is treated by all and sundry as if he is somebody. But if Mr Khairy goes ahead with his defamation suit, the biggest casualty would be his father-in-law, Pak Lah. The days are long gone when the president's word is sacrosanct, and his son-in-law is treated with respect because of who he is. He has in threatening defamation action, as an Indian saying goes, "given a stick to beat him with." He can escape this by a clear explanation of who he is, what his job is, and how he came to all this money. Or say it in court under oath.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@streamyx.com