Is Anwar admitting he'll be 'a disastrous PM'?

Just World president Chandra Muzaffar has asked Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim whether he (Anwar) is now admitting that he will be an "unmitigated disaster" should the opposition win the forthcoming general election and Anwar becomes the prime minister.

Chandra (left), a former PKR deputy president, also asked whether by removing two paragraphs from the RM10 million defamation suit Anwar filed against him - that the Kuala Lumpur High Court allowed today - also meant that Anwar was admitting he did deceive the public.

Justice Nik Hasmat Nik Mohamad allowed Anwar to amend his statement of claim and ordered the politician to pay RM1,000 as costs.

Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin, who acted for for Chandra, said the court allowed Anwar to amend his statement of claim and that this was quite significant because Anwar withdrew two allegations that had been included in his suit.

Anwar was therefore narrowing the scope of his suit, Firoz Hussein said.

Outside the court, Chandra referred to two paragraphs that Anwar took out of his statement of claim.

The two statements were reported by The Star and New Straits Times in 2008, resulting in Anwar suing Chandra for defamation.

"If Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim becomes Prime Minister, it will be an 'unmitigated disaster' for Malaysia, a former Parti Keadilan Nasional (before they joined forces with Parti Rakyat Malaysia to become PKR) deputy president said at a forum yesterday." This paragraph was carried in The Star.

The NST reported: "Asked why he was breaking his silence now, Chandra said it appeared the people were being deceived by Anwar, and this was something which he was prepared to do."

Chandra said: "This is something that Anwar has to answer, emanating from this action of the removal of the two paragraphs.

"Is Anwar now admitting that he would be an 'unmitigated disaster' should the opposition win and is he now admitting that he had deceived the public?"

'Anwar acted for freedom of speech'

Counsel N Surendran and Latheefa Koya, who acted for Anwar, told reporters outside court that Anwar moved to remove the two paragraphs after taking freedom of speech into account.

Chandra was entitled to his opinion, Surendran said, and he went on to note that the court also ordered Chandra to justify his defamatory statement in the two newspaper reports, in reference to the Kampung Jawa clash in Penang, on which he quotes Anwar as saying that he (Anwar) would make sure the temple bells would not ring anymore.

Latheefa (on the right in picture) also confirmed that Anwar was asked to pay costs of RM1,000 for his application to amend his statement of claim.

Justice Nik Hasmat has ordered the case to go for trial on April 3 and 4. The two parties had met in court in April last year, but they failed to reach an out-of-court settlement.

On March 6, 2008, Anwar sued Chandra for making defamatory remarks about him at a forum held at Menara Star in Petaling Jaya on March 3, 2008, which were subsequently published in newspapers.

Anwar claimed that Chandra used the offending words to disparage him in both his private and official capacities, including as former deputy prime minister and former finance minister, and claimed that the defamatory comments, among others, meant that he promoted and incited racial hatred among the races in Malaysia.

Chandra, in his statement of defence filed on May 16, 2008, denied having uttered malicious, false or defamatory comments about Anwar, which the opposition leader claimed were published in two local English newspapers on March 5, 2008.

Alternatively, Chandra claimed that if the words were defamatory, which he denied, then they were published on an occasion of qualified privilege and without malice.