KUALA LUMPUR – Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh has welcomed Universiti Utara Malaysia lecturer Kamarul Zaman Yusoff’s decision to withdraw his defamation suit against her for alleged slander and incitement of racial and religious sentiments.
In a statement today confirming the withdrawal, Yeoh said Kamarul had filed a notice of discontinuance in court on January 30 and agreed to pay her RM5,000 in costs without the liberty of filing a new suit.
“His (Kamarul’s) withdrawal of this defamation suit is not only timely, but also confirms my steadfast position that I did not exploit race and religion in my campaign, rendering his accusations against me baseless and unsubstantiated.
“Now that the suit has been withdrawn, I wish to lay this matter to rest,” said Yeoh, who is also DAP’s Segambut MP.
In September 2020, during the Sabah election, Kamarul commented, “Using religion to win the state election?” on a banner featuring Yeoh’s image alongside the phrase “Peranan Umat Kristian Dalam Pembangunan Negara” (The Role of Christians in Nation Building).
Yeoh had then responded by accusing the academician of stoking racial and religious statements, leading to Kamarul filing a defamation suit against the lawmaker.
Previously, in 2017, Kamarul lodged a police report against Yeoh, who was then the Selangor speaker, for allegedly pushing a Christian agenda through her biography, Becoming Hannah: A Personal Journey, which was published two years earlier.
Several DAP leaders, who had at that time defended Yeoh, became the target of a separate suit by Kamarul in 2020. However, the suit was struck out by the sessions court here in 2022. – February 6, 2024