Lecturer ordered to pay RM400,000 to Hannah Yeoh

The Star

2 days ago

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has ordered Universiti Utara Malaysia senior lecturer Dr Kamarul Zaman Yusoff to pay RM400,000 in damages to Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh over defamatory Facebook posts made in 2017.
Justice Aliza Sulaiman ruled in Yeoh's favour, stating that the court was satisfied she had proven her case on the balance of probabilities.
'I am satisfied that the plaintiff has discharged the burden of proving on a balance of probabilities that the first and second publications are defamatory,' said the judge yesterday.
The defamatory statements were posted on Facebook on May 10, 2017 under the title 'Hannah Yeoh: Contoh Hipokrasi Terbesar DAP' and on May 17, 2017 as a police report titled 'Laporan Polis Saya Terhadap Hannah Yeoh'.
Kamarul argued that he was referring to DAP in his first post but did not raise a similar claim regarding the second publication on May 17.
The court found that both publications clearly referred to Yeoh.
Justice Aliza also rejected Kamarul's defence of justification, fair comment and qualified privilege, concluding that he failed to substantiate them.
The court awarded Yeoh RM200,000 in general and aggravated damages for each post, along with RM80,000 in legal costs to be paid by the defendant.
An injunction was also granted, restraining Kamarul or any party acting on his behalf from publishing the defamatory words or anything similar.
Kamarul, who was not present in court, later issued a statement expressing respect for the ruling but said he would file an appeal soon.
'I will be filing an appeal to the Court of Appeal to challenge this decision on its facts and law,' he said.
Yeoh's lawsuit, filed in 2022, accused Kamarul of defaming her by suggesting in the 2017 Facebook posts that she aimed to proselytise Christianity through her political work.
The lecturer also referred to Yeoh's biography as promoting a Christian agenda.