KUALA LUMPUR – Former Penang deputy chief minister II P. Ramasamy has been ordered by the high court here to pay RM1.52 million to preacher Zakir Naik after the former lost the defamation suit today.
High court judge Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz found that Ramasamy’s defence in the defamation suit filed by Zakir against him was unacceptable.
She found that the former DAP member could not prove the truth or appropriately justify the publication of his impugned statements, including one where he called Zakir a “satan”.
“The defence offered by Ramasamy, where he said that he was just passing fair comments on occasions of qualified privilege, is without merit and untenable.
“The animosity and malice in the unrelenting personal attacks of Zakir in those impugned statements by Ramasamy occurred and lasted from April 10, 2016, to November 8, 2019, which is approximately three and a half years.
“From the facts before me, Zakir had succeeded in discharging his burden of defamation, and I take Ramasamy’s evidence with an abundance of caution. (However), I am unpersuaded by his arguments,” she said.
She also found Zakir’s evidence to have satisfied three elements of the tort of defamation throughout the course of the trial, which is to prove the impugned statement is defamatory in nature, if the statement refers to the plaintiff (Zakir), and if the statement has been published to third parties.
“It is in the affirmative on all three.
“Looking at the background and complete facts of the present case and the demeanour of Ramasamy in the context in which it was issued, all statements are undoubtedly defamatory and were actuated by malice and anger towards Zakir.
“Those impugned statements were personal attacks angled to disparage, ridicule, and lower Zakir in the eyes of the general public.”
She then ordered Ramasamy to pay RM1 million in general damages, RM100,000 in compensatory damages, RM100,000 in aggravated damages, and RM250,000 in exemplary damages to Zakir for all the former’s statements.
She proceeded to grant RM70,000 in global costs to Zakir, which will be paid by Ramasamy as well, which amounts to a grand total of RM1.52 million.
The judge ordered the former Perai assemblyman to make all payments within 30 days from today, in addition to issuing a public apology to the preacher.
However, Ramasamy’s lawyer, Nazlan Hadri, made an oral application for a stay of apology and said that a formal application for a stay of apology would be filed within 14 days with the court.
Hayatul then granted the application after no objection was recorded from Zakir’s lawyer, Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader. She then fixed December 1 for the application’s hearing.
The preacher was not present during today’s decision proceeding as he was in Nigeria on invitation by the country’s government to give a talk. However, he was represented by Mohd Rafie Mohd Shafie and Datuk Sulaiman Abdullah in today’s proceedings.
In October 2019, Zakir filed a suit against Ramasamy, where he claimed the latter’s four statements made against him were defamatory and malicious.
He listed in the suit Ramasamy’s Facebook post, published in April 2016, which includes the word “satan” in referring to Zakir, as the first impugned statement.
He then listed three other statements made by Ramasamy between October 2017 and August 2019 that were published in an online news portal, either as opinion pieces or as comments given in an interview with India Today.
The preacher then filed another suit against Ramasamy in October 2019, again, over the latter’s statements that alleged Zakir to have been involved with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. – November 2, 2023