Nasi kandar restaurant sues newspaper over alleged misreporting

 

Penang Road-based Nasi Kandar Line Clear says the restaurant that was actually fined was Nasi Kandar Clear, which is located at Jalan Gurdwara. (Facebook pic)

GEORGE TOWN: A famous nasi kandar shop in Penang is suing The Star for wrongly reporting that local authorities fined and closed the restaurant for dirty handling of food items.

The English-language daily had reported that Nasi Kandar Line Clear (Line Clear) and another restaurant were ordered to pay a fine for cross-contamination and improper food handling last February.

However, the restaurant that was actually fined by Penang Island City Council (MBPP) health officers was Nasi Kandar Clear, which is located at Jalan Gurdwara, while Line Clear is at Penang Road. Both restaurants are not related.

The Star’s parent company, Star Media Group Bhd (SMG), sought to strike out the suit by Line Clear, saying the article concerned did not refer to Line Clear, and was not defamatory.

However, it admitted to having published the following in its print edition on Feb 21, 2020, carrying a headline “Famous Penang eateries fined”, with the subheading reading: “Deens Maju and Line Clear Nasi Kandar outlets ordered to close”. In one sentence in the article, it claimed Line Clear stored its food mix in a freezer.

Judicial commissioner Amarjeet Singh Serjit Singh dismissed SMG’s strike-out application, saying the case ought to be tried as there were conflicting facts. He set Jan 5 for case management.

Line Clear was represented by K Simon Murali, while Loo Ying Ning appeared for SMG.

According to the statement of claim by Line Clear, the article had purportedly caused it to suffer loss and damages, along with humiliation that it was “unclean and unhygienic”.

It claimed that it sent SMG a letter of demand asking for an apology and a retraction to be published, along with a demand for compensation, but the company failed to meet the demands requested.

Line Clear claimed that the newspaper had instead merely attempted to justify an erroneous news report.

It is seeking general, aggravated and exemplary damages, including other reliefs deemed appropriate by the court.

Line Clear also wants the court to compel The Star to run an apology on the newspaper’s front page.

In its statement of defence, SMG said the online version of the story was immediately amended to remove references to Line Clear on a subheading and within the article.

It said in two further articles published, it carried a clarification by Abdul Latiff Ali, the owner of Line Clear. The articles quoted Latiff as saying “many were confused over reports that Line Clear was compounded” and stressed that it was in no way related to Nasi Kandar Clear.

SMG also said Line Clear’s statement saying the city council’s health inspectors had given the restaurant the all-clear two weeks earlier was also reported in one of the two articles.

It said The Star had the right to publish articles deemed as matters of public interest and qualified privilege.

In reply to SMG’s defence, Line Clear said The Star purportedly did not admit it had made a mistake in the first place and had failed to address the restaurant’s grievances from the misreporting.

Line Clear also said articles quoting Latiff, the owner, were also allegedly “deceptive and misleading”, as Latiff had insisted that it wanted The Star to publish an apology or face a lawsuit when he spoke to SMG staff. - Star