Court sets July 12 for decision on Tajuddin's bid to strike out Pua-Loke lawsuit

Pasir Salak MP Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (photo, above) will know on July 12, if he will succeed in his bid to strike out a lawsuit against him over his allegation that DAP aimed to abolish Malaysia’s monarchy system.

This was revealed by lawyer Farhan Haziq Mohamed after today's open-court hearing of the striking-out bid before Kuala Lumpur High Court judicial commissioner Latifah Mohd Tahar.

Farhan acted for Transport Minister Anthony Loke and Damansara MP Tony Pua, who are the plaintiffs suing Umno supreme council member Tajuddin for defamation.

“The court has set July 12, for the decision (on Tajuddin’s application for the striking out),” he said.

Also present in court was Tajuddin’s lawyer Hasnal Rezua Merican.

Yesterday, Malaysiakini reported that Loke and Pua - DAP national organising secretary and national publicity secretary, respectively - are suing the former deputy agriculture and agro-based industry minister over his speech at Kampung Jawa on the eve of the Sungai Kandis by-election on Aug 3 last year.

Tajuddin was alleged to have accused Loke and Pua of being Christians and with other fellow adherents in DAP, sought to spread Christianity and abolish Malaysia’s monarchy system.

He purportedly claimed that Loke and Pua had sought to establish a republic like Singapore where there would be neither king or sultan, and the head of Malaysia can be anyone.

The defendant’s purported statements were carried in a Malaysiakini article titled "Tajuddin fires ‘Christian DAP’ salvo to close BN’s Sg Kandis campaign" which was uploaded on the same night as the speech.

In their statement of claim filed with a writ of summons on March 21, Loke and Pua denied that they were Christians and said Tajuddin's statements had depicted them as being derelict their duties as minister and parliamentarians and used their positions to champion a personal political agenda.

Loke is also Seremban MP, while Pua is also political secretary to Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.

On May 8, Tajuddin applied to strike out the legal action by Loke and Pua.

He claimed that the lawsuit did not have any reasonable cause of action known under law.

Tajuddin claimed the plaintiffs failed to include the publisher of the alleged defamatory words as a defendant in the suit.

He also claimed that the lawsuit should be struck out as it was wrongly premised on alleged libel rather than slander, and the plaintiffs failed to plead special damages to make the legal action "actionable per se", among others. -Mkini