DAP disciplinary committee chief Tony Pua has raised questions about the risks of initiating legal action against those who tarnish his reputation, marking the second time he has publicly posed such concerns in the past two weeks.
His remarks centred on whether one should take “someone powerful” to court, and whether doing so would result in additional police reports being lodged against him.
“If someone powerful gets his or her facts wrong and tarnishes my reputation, can or should I sue for defamation?
“Do I have the right to defend myself? Or will I receive more police reports?” he asked in a brief Facebook post.
Although he did not mention any names or specific incidents, the former federal lawmaker’s post came in the wake of Selangor ruler Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah’s remarks concerning the LRT3 Shah Alam Line.
Malaysiakini has contacted Pua for confirmation of this.
Pua also appeared to be referring to earlier police reports lodged against him in May, after he said Malaysia practises a constitutional monarchy system in which the powers of the Malay rulers are generally limited to specific areas.
He had also said Malaysians did not “live in a system whereby the monarch can issue binding decrees which legislate all aspects of our lives”.
At the time, Pua’s statement was believed to have followed a decree by Sultan Sharafuddin suggesting that Seri Kembangan assemblyperson Wong Siew Ki and former Selangor executive councillor Ronnie Liu visit Dataran Selangor once a week to better understand and appreciate the meaning of the Rukun Negara.
Ruler’s comments on LRT3 project
Earlier today, Malaysiakini reported Sultan Sharafuddin saying that under the Pakatan Harapan federal government, then finance minister Lim Guan Eng and Pua, who served as the minister’s aide, had reduced the investment cost for the LRT3 project.
The ruler said this was done because the pair considered it a “mega” project, “despite not understanding that the LRT3 was built to meet the needs and requirements of the people”.
He added that the size of each station was reduced, the number of train carriages decreased, and five proposed stations along the route were also cancelled.
Sultan Sharafuddin thanked Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim for agreeing to continue the project, reinstating the five cancelled stations and approving the construction of affordable housing around the stations and along the LRT3 line to further benefit the people.
‘Can royals face rebuttals?’
On June 22, Pua had also posed a similar question, while musing whether doing so could land him in trouble under the Sedition Act.
As with his latest post, he did not mention any names, but the remarks were believed to be linked to Johor Regent Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim’s comments as the state prepared for an election.
“When senior members of the royalty get openly involved directly (or even indirectly) with politics and political campaigns, demonstrating bias and partiality, are they then not subjecting themselves to rebuttals and retorts?” asked Pua.
“In that case, are these royalty members above reproach? Will the Sedition Act still apply?” he added. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.