Court throws out AirAsia’s defamation suit against former MP

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court today dismissed AirAsia Berhad’s defamation suit against former Wangsa Maju MP Wee Choo Keong.

Judge Su Geok Yiam said the low-cost budget airline had failed to discharge the burden of proof against Wee, who is a former Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board chairman.

Su said the 2015 blog article in question, comprising of 13 sections, when read as a whole, was not defamatory.

“There is also no innuendo in the article, ” she said, adding that eight sections which contained the opinion and comment of the defendant were true.

In her oral judgment, Su said the plaintiff had also failed to prove malice.

The court ordered AirAsia to pay Wee RM50,000 in costs.

In July 2015, AirAsia filed the suit against Wee, the owner of blog http://weechookeong.com, for knowingly and intentionally publishing false and malicious statements defamatory of the low-cost carrier.

The plaintiff said Wee had regularly published many false, misleading and disparaging statements on the blog, including an article entitled “Why Liow & MAHB encouraged AirAsia to owe RM50 million PSC (passenger service charge)/airport tax?” dated April 20, 2015.

AirAsia said Wee had earlier failed to respond to a letter of demand to retract his allegations.

“AirAsia has filed a suit because our reputation has been damaged by this conduct, in addition to our efforts to correct the disinformation published about AirAsia,” the statement of claim said.

Wee, however, said he had responded to the letter and had invited AirAsia to submit its comments to be published in his blog. However, AirAsia did not take up the offer.

Wee had pleaded the defence of justification and fair comment in response to the suit.

Lawyer Leonard Yeoh, appearing for the airline, told reporters that he would seek instruction whether to file an appeal.

Wee was represented by lawyer Khoo Guan Huat. -FMT