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KUCHING, Mar 8 — Section 3 of the Government Proceedings Act (GPA) 1956 allows governments to sue for defamation, stated State Legal Counsel Datuk Sri JC Fong.
He was responding to counsel Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram’s call on Thursday for the Federal Court to review its February 2020 decision in the case of state Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman Chong Chieng Jien, who was sued by the Sarawak government.
This followed the apex court’s landmark ruling that political parties could not sue individuals for defamation when allowing the appeal by Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng to strike out the suit by Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan, then MCA secretary-general who sued on behalf of the party, following statements made by the DAP representative.
“That was Sri Ram’s opinion. Governments can sue in defamation because of Section 3 of the Government Proceedings Act,” Fong stressed when contacted on Friday.
“The (MCA v Lim Lip Eng) case only applies to political parties, not to governments which come under the purview of the Government Proceedings Act.”
Sri Ram had claimed the decision in Chong’s case did not take into account that the GPA was a pre-Merdeka legislation that did not take into consideration freedom of speech as enshrined in the Federal Constitution.
“Furthermore, Section 3 of the GPA does not confer the cause of action for the government under tort of defamation,” he claimed.
On February 12, 2020, a five-member Federal Court bench had unanimously dismissed Chong’s review application to set aside the apex court’s earlier decision that governments in Malaysia could sue citizens for defamation.
The bench then ordered the Sarawak government’s defamation suit against Chong be sent back to the High Court here for trial.
The trial hearing is on-going and the plaintiffs, Sarawak government and State Financial Authority (SFA), have so far called five witnesses to testify against Chong, who is Kota Sentosa assemblyman and Stampin MP.
In April 2013, the SFA filed a defamation suit against Chong after he used the term “Blackhole” in January 2013 to insinuate that RM11 billion had gone missing from the state’s coffers.
The trial hearing continues tomorrow (March 8) with an interpreter taking the witness stand via Zoom from Miri. — Borneo Post Online
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