DAP MP cites court case to defuse Ismail Sabri's 'jihad'

DAP lawmaker Ngeh Koo Ham cited a court case between him and opposition leader Ismail Sabri Yaakob in a bid to show that the latter lacked calibre.

This was in relation to the court last year ordering the Umno vice-president to pay RM80,000 in damages and RM5,000 in cost to Ngeh to settle a defamation suit brought by the latter.

"The opposition leader admitted that DAP leaders are not anti-Islam and anti-Malay. He admitted slandering me as anti-Malay and anti-Islam," he told reporters at the Parliament lobby today.

Ngeh said this admission prevented a full trial from being carried out over his defamation suit against Ismail.

"I called for this press conference to show he is not a person with credibility. He never learns from his mistakes. This person who paid me RM80,000 (compensation) is unrepentant," he added.

Based on this, the Beruas MP said Ismail's remark that the Umno-PAS alliance was waging a jihad against the Pakatan Harapan government is merely an attempt to spook Malay-Muslims.

The Umno leader also accused the Harapan government of being anti-Islam and anti-Malay when speaking at an event on Sunday night.

Ismail has refused to apologise and explained that he used the term jihad, which is often interpreted as a holy war, in the context of a struggle.

The defamation suit stemmed from Ismail Sabri's Facebook post on Feb 1, 2015 where he accused Ngeh of having an interest in the Old Town White Coffee chain.

Ismail said Old Town White Coffee's halal certification was suspect and that Ngeh was anti-Islam.

At the time, Ismail was the agriculture and agro-based industries minister and was urging Malays to shun Chinese businesses to compel them to lower prices.  - Mkini