Judge in Sarawak DAP chief's defamation case ordered to produce judgment

New Straits Times

5 hours ago

KUCHING: The Court of Appeal has ordered the trial judge in the defamation trial of Stampin MP and Sarawak DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen to provide the written grounds of judgment within one month from today.
This is to enable the hearing of Chong's appeal to be heard.
The hearing of the appeal today had to be postponed as the written judgment was not available.
"As directed by the Court of Appeal, my lawyers will also be writing to the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak on this matter," Chong said.
He hoped to receive the grounds of judgment soon for the appeal to proceed.
Chong said the trial had concluded four years ago and "yet there is still no grounds of judgment from the trial judge".
In 2012, Chong criticised the state's budget, pointing to what he described as a recurring line item titled "government's contribution towards government-approved agencies trust fund".
He argued that this allocation acted as a "black hole" since it lacked transparency as substantial sums in billions of ringgit were transferred without disclosure of the actual recipients or their uses.
In 2013, the then Sarawak government and State Financial Authority (SFA) filed a defamation lawsuit against him following his published claims, including in leaflets and news outlets, that RM11 billion in public funds had gone into this "black hole".
The suit was filed in the Kuching High Court, and the trial started on Jan 7, 2021.
On August 30, 2022, the judge ruled in favour of the state government, determining that Chong's "black hole" remark was defamatory, and that his defences — justification, fair comment, and qualified privilege — did not hold.
The judge ordered Chong to pay RM150,000 in damages and RM50,000 in legal costs, and issued an injunction preventing him from repeating the statement.
Chong said the trial judge then did not provide the grounds of judgment.
"After almost three years from the decision of the High Court judge, or four years after the conclusion of the trial, the judge has not provided the grounds of his judgment.
"Over the years, we have written five times to the High Court to request the grounds of judgment, but all to no avail," Chong said.
He said because there were no grounds of judgment, his appeal, which was to have been heard today, had to be postponed.
Chong filed the appeal on Sept 12, 2022, arguing that allowing the government to sue individuals for defamation was a dangerous erosion of freedom of speech and that the judgment posed a threat to democratic rights across the Commonwealth.
The judge who presided over the trial was a judicial commissioner at the time.