Nalla: I will not be silenced

Nallakaruppan says that Anwar Ibrahim's legal notice is meant to shut him up instead of pursuing the truth.

KUALA LUMPUR: Senator KS Nallakaruppan declared that he will not be silenced by a legal notice from Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim demanding that he ceases making statements about the latter.

He confirmed receiving the notice from Anwar’s lawyer N Surendran on March 20 demanding that he pay Anwar RM100 million in damages for accusing him of being a bisexual and unfit to be opposition leader.

The report was carried by Utusan Malaysia and contained claims by Nallakaruppan that Anwar had an affair with a male employee of Magnum Corporation as well as a married woman. The Umno daily is also being sued for the same amount.

According to Nallakaruppan, the legal notice further demanded that he publish a full withdrawal and apology in Utusan and refrain from making any future statements pertaining to Anwar.

Nallakaruppan said he had been given 48 hours to respond to the notice but added that he had no intentions of doing so.

“I will not reply the letter and I will continue talking about Anwar until he takes me to court,” he promised at a media conference this morning. “I want to see Anwar in court even if it is as early as next week”

“Anwar is just trying to shut all of us up because the elections are nearing. The purpose of this legal notice is not to uphold the truth but is politically motivated,” he added.

The Malaysian Indian United Party (MIUP) president reminded the media that he had been openly speaking about Anwar’s alleged misdeeds since 2007 but the Permatang Pauh MP never once made a move to sue him until now seeing as the general election is tipped to be held in June.

He also recalled that despite the Federal Court overturning Anwar’s sodomy conviction in 2004, three of its judges had nevertheless written in their decision that the latter was indeed a homosexual.

“Anwar told me that he wanted to file an appeal to expunge this part of the court’s decision but it has been eight years and he hasn’t done so,” he said. “Why? Because he knows that truth is not on his side.”

“But he’s suing me now because he needs to show his supporters that he is doing something to counter these recurring allegations. Yet all he is doing is fighting perception,” he added.

Also present at the media conference were Umi Hafilda Ali, former PKR Youth chief Senator Ezam Mat Nor, Anwar’s former private secretary Anuar Shaari and Nallakaruppan’s lawyer Hasnal Rezua Merican.

Umi: I am waiting for GE

Hasnal said that while a 48-hour time frame indicated the seriousness of the legal notice, he also hoped that Anwar’s commitment wouldn’t fizzle out there.

“I hope he is serious enough to take this to the next stage which is the court,” he stated. “We can secure a trial date within a few months but it’s really up to the plantiff whether he wants to take it that far.”

Nallakaruppan had previously said that he possessed evidence to support his claims which he would only produce in court and refused to give in to media requests to reveal some of it today.

“What I can say is that Anwar didn’t go to Tivolli Villa once a month,” he said. “He went there 15 times at least, and not with the same person.”

Here Umi interjected alleging that one of Anwar’s companions was Shamsidar Taharin, the wife of her brother and PKR deputy president Azmin Ali. She also claimed to have photographic evidence of this.

“I tailed Nallakaruppan’s car on June 30, 1997 to Tivolli Villa,” she said. “He was driving a green Daimler with the number plate WBV37 and both Anwar and Shamsidar were inside.”

“I even went to the Road Transport Department (JPJ) the next day to check the car number and found that it was registered to Nallakaruppan,” she added.

When pressed for further details, Umi said that she was waiting for the general election to be called before exposing everything she had on Anwar.

“The nuclear war has begun,” she stated. “And when the elections come I will say so much that Anwar and Azmin will have nowhere to run.”