The Kuala Lumpur High Court today granted leave for contempt proceedings to be initiated against Malay rights group Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali and a blogger for making unwarranted comments in a blog about a judge who had presided over a case.
Justice John Louis O’ Hara allowed the application to proceed and fixed March 21 as the date for the committal proceedings.
Representatives from the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) and the Bar Council did not object to the decision.
Subang MP Sivarasa Rasiah (left) and PKR vice-president N Surendran filed the application on Jan 17, naming blogger and author Zainuddin Salleh, and Ibrahim, as the persons to be cited for contempt.
Zainuddin had allegedly written a disparaging article about High Court judge VT Singham and posted it on his blog, part of which Perkasa produced on its website, with a link to the full article. Ibrahim was named by virtue of being a Perkasa office-bearer.
The article posted on the Perkasa blog on Jan 7 questions Justice Singham's impartiality in presiding over Anwar Ibrahim's defamation suit against Utusan Malaysia, as based on his rulings and decisions - which the author claimed - leaned towards the opposition.
It also questioned the judge's views on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, also based on the case, and noted that the judge was a bachelor himself.
The comments were made in the context of Singham presiding over Anwar Ibrahim's defamation suit against Utusan Malaysia.
It was reported at the previous session that Justice O' Hara had wanted the AGC to be referred to in this application.
Justice John Louis O’ Hara allowed the application to proceed and fixed March 21 as the date for the committal proceedings.
Representatives from the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) and the Bar Council did not object to the decision.Subang MP Sivarasa Rasiah (left) and PKR vice-president N Surendran filed the application on Jan 17, naming blogger and author Zainuddin Salleh, and Ibrahim, as the persons to be cited for contempt.
Zainuddin had allegedly written a disparaging article about High Court judge VT Singham and posted it on his blog, part of which Perkasa produced on its website, with a link to the full article. Ibrahim was named by virtue of being a Perkasa office-bearer.
The article posted on the Perkasa blog on Jan 7 questions Justice Singham's impartiality in presiding over Anwar Ibrahim's defamation suit against Utusan Malaysia, as based on his rulings and decisions - which the author claimed - leaned towards the opposition.
It also questioned the judge's views on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, also based on the case, and noted that the judge was a bachelor himself.
The comments were made in the context of Singham presiding over Anwar Ibrahim's defamation suit against Utusan Malaysia.
It was reported at the previous session that Justice O' Hara had wanted the AGC to be referred to in this application.
Ibrahim wants to apologise
According to Sivarasa, he had told Justice O' Hara today that Ibrahim was willing to apologise to Singham and Anwar over the matter of the posting.
This, Sivarasa claimed, was relayed to him by Ibrahim's lawyer before the proceedings began today.
"However, Ibrahim (right) was not able to come to court today. Following this, the judge decided to go on to hear the leave application. There were no objections from the representatives of the AGC and Bar Council," he told Malaysiakini.
Following this, the Subang MP said, the judge granted the leave application.
"Justice O' Hara said that if Ibrahim wanted to come and apologise, he could do so at the next session," he added.
This, Sivarasa claimed, was relayed to him by Ibrahim's lawyer before the proceedings began today."However, Ibrahim (right) was not able to come to court today. Following this, the judge decided to go on to hear the leave application. There were no objections from the representatives of the AGC and Bar Council," he told Malaysiakini.
Following this, the Subang MP said, the judge granted the leave application.
"Justice O' Hara said that if Ibrahim wanted to come and apologise, he could do so at the next session," he added.
Hence, Sivarasa said, the judge fixed March 21 to hear the committal proceedings or for Ibrahim to apologise.
Ibrahim had been represented by Tasha Rashid.
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