Information Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim will apply to the court to enter a judgment against a blogger in a defamation suit, in the event the blogger fails to appear in court.
Counsel Norhani Nordin, representing Rais, told reporters today that the court had directed them to paste the writ of summons (the suit) at the political analyst-cum-blogger Ahmad Mutalib Mohamed Daud's last known address in Sabah.
She said High Court Judicial Commisioner Amelia Tee Hong Geok Abdullah set May 23 for case management for development of the matter.
It was the final attempt to serve the suit on the blogger after they failed to personally serve it on him.
"We filed for substitute service notice last March as we could not serve the suit personally on him. We did the substitute service by way of advertisements on April 13, 14 and 15, in local Sabah dailies," she said.
Following that, she said, they had pasted the suit at the Kuala lumpur High Court notice board.
"And now, we have to paste the suit at his last known address...if he (the blogger) fails to enter an apperance in court, we will enter a judgment against him," she said.
Rais filed the suit on Feb 10 after four articles he regarded as libellous, dated Jan 1, Jan 3, Jan 5 and Jan 7, were uploaded by Ahmad Mutalib on the Sabahkini weblog, at http://sabahkini.net.
Ahmad Mutalib, a blogger who provides independent news via his weblog, has his registered address in Kota Kinabalu.
In his statement of claim, Rais had stated that certain words which appeared in the articles were malicious and defamatory of him, which gravely injured him personally and his professional reputation nationally and internationally, where he had suffered considerable embarrassment, distress and damage.
He also stated that the articles were absurd and wicked in misrepresentation of his character and office.
Rais is claiming general, special, aggravated and exemplary damages and also an injunction to compel Ahmad Mutalib to remove all the libellous words and passages in the articles.
-- BERNAMA
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