KUALA LUMPUR – DAP leaders have challenged Kepala Batas MP Siti Mastura Muhammad to back up her Chin Peng-Kuan Yew speech with facts.
This comes after Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng and Seputeh MP Teresa Kok claimed that Siti Mastura’s defence in their ongoing suit was “baseless and untenable”.
The trio, who filed their reply at the Georgetown High Court on February 2, said Siti Mastura had planned and intended to slander DAP leaders through her speech.
“The defendant (Siti Mastura) disclosed in her defence statement that she relied on her research based on information published in a BNComms book titled Bahan Kempen, Komunikasi Barisan Nasional (Campaign Material, Barisan Nasional Communications).
“We (the plaintiffs) therefore put the burden of evidence on Siti Mastura to prove the validity and reliability of the alleged research.
“We assert that the defendant, who is an MP and holds a doctorate, is trained to abide by ethical techniques and protocols (in conducting research).
“She has a duty as an academician and researcher to ensure that materials (used in research) are authentic, authoritative and reliable.
“It is absurd, inappropriate and grossly irresponsible, as well as reckless for a politician and even more so for a doctorate holder to have made such a statement about an unauthentic, unauthoritative and unreliable BNComms publication, whose existence has been denied by Barisan Nasional itself,” said the trio in the reply.
The trio also said that Siti Mastura’s libel and slanderous remarks were uttered intentionally, with clear malicious intent to defame the three plaintiffs.
They claimed that Siti Mastura has admitted in her defence that the talk was conducted in a closed-door ceremony without any intention for the speech to be accessed by the general public.
“However, she has full knowledge that the speech could have been spread around the world through social media.”
Previously, the media reported that the PAS leader’s remarks were based on alleged facts obtained from the BNComms book, which she deemed a reliable source.
However, on November 19 last year, former Umno Supreme Council member Isham Jalil said he was not sure if the BNComms book was produced or published by the party.
Kok, Kit Siang, and Guan Eng filed a defamation suit on November 27 last year against Siti Mastura over the Chin Peng-Kuan Yew speech delivered during Majlis Himpunan Muslimat and Ameerah Pilihan Raya Kecil Kemaman on November 4 the same year.
The trio claimed Siti Mastura’s speech has defamed and slandered them, as the speech is slanderous, libellous and false, as well as disparaging the trio as it carries innuendoes that the trio or any other DAP members harbour a hidden intention to challenge the federal constitution. – February 6, 2024