Former ministers Lim Guan Eng and Zuraida Kamaruddin did hold two separate meetings over a Bestari Jaya public housing project for former plantation workers, a witness for the defence told the Shah Alam High Court today.
Former housing and local government director-general Jayaselan Navaratnam, testifying in Lim’s defamation suit against Zuraida, backed her claim that two meetings took place on the matter, one in 2018 and the other in 2019, saying he attended both as an observer.
However, Jayaselan said he did not take any notes during the meetings as they were informal sessions.
“It was purely a private meeting. I was invited (by Zuraida) and there was no objection from the other parties for me to sit in. If there had been an objection, I would have left the room.
“That’s why I said (in my testimony that) it’s a four-eye meeting. It’s an informal meeting,” he told Lim’s lawyer Sankara Nair during cross-examination, adding that he left the meetings early after matters on the housing project were discussed and concluded.
Yesterday, Zuraida testified that she had met Lim, who was the finance minister at the time, on both occasions, contradicting Lim’s testimony on Monday, where the DAP veteran said he had no recollections of meeting or ever discussing the housing project with the former housing and local government minister.
Lim filed the defamation suit against Zuraida in 2024. He also named the editor of online news portal MalaysiaNow and its owner, Mnow Media Sdn Bhd, as the other two defendants.
In his suit, Lim claimed that Zuraida had made defamatory statements about him over the housing project during his tenure as finance minister from 2018 to 2020.
The Bagan MP claimed that the statement was carried on MalaysiaNow on May 10, 2024, via the article “Zuraida dakwa Guan Eng tolak dua kali permohonan KPKT bina rumah pekerja ladang Bestari Jaya” (Zuraida claims Guan Eng rejected Bestari Jaya housing project application for estate workers twice).
Seeking clarification from Lim
Jayaselan said the 2018 meeting was to seek clarification on the way forward for the project.
He said this was because the project had been approved by the previous Najib Abdul Razak administration and was still at the Letter of Intent stage, with procurement awarded to a contractor agreed upon by the landowner, Berjaya Group, through direct negotiation at the time.
After Pakatan Harapan took power in 2018, Jayaselan said the procurement process was changed to an open tender system, leading to the meeting to get Lim’s ministry to “soften the policy”.
“(Zuraida and I) were seeking clarification on ‘softening the policy’ at that time, so we went there and tried our luck.
“(But) Lim was firm in his decision on not changing anything. (He said) policy is policy,” Jayaselan said, alluding to Lim’s stance as showing his intention to reject the previous procurement.
However, Jayaselan agreed with Sankara’s contention that despite Lim’s firm position on sticking to policy, he did not outright reject the project and that intentions could not be inferred.
Open-tender process
Jayaselan later said Lim’s response prompted Zuraida to meet the landowner, where they discussed procurement matters.
Subsequently, the landowner agreed to an open-tender process, leading to the second meeting in 2019, he said.
“The second meeting was just to inform (Lim) on the update with (landowner). I was there only for the purpose of informing him. He said ‘good and move forward’,” Jayaselan added.
However, the project was temporarily shelved and eventually removed from the list of housing projects after the Harapan government collapsed in 2020.
Jayaselan noted that the project was eventually revived in 2022, with Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming making an announcement about it last year.
Nga, in April 2024, was reported as saying RM5.21 million would be allocated to upgrade public infrastructure under the Hulu Selangor Municipal Council, which covers the Bestari Jaya area, and the Chinese New Village Project.
The court later fixed Feb 25 for the verdict. - Mkini
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