KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 20 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is suing Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for defamation for allegedly saying that he received a RM15 million salary when he was serving as Selangor’s Economic Adviser.
Anwar, 75, filed the suit through S.N. Nair & Partners at the High Court here today, naming Muhyiddin, 75, as the sole defendant.
According to the statement of claim, Anwar alleged that on Dec 5 this year Muhyiddin, who is Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman, had made the statement when speaking at the ‘Grand Finale Perikatan Nasional Padang Serai’ ceramah in front of hundreds of people in Taman Selasih, Kulim, in support of PN candidate Datuk Azman Nasrudin in the 15th General Election.
The Pakatan Harapan chairman claimed that Muhyiddin’s speech at the ceramah was published or led to its republication on the TikTok application under the name “@beritakini8”, which had received more than 1.1 million views, 6,061 comments, more than 21,400 ‘likes’, more than 1,360 ’favourites’ and 2,169 shares as at Dec 7 this year when the plaintiff filed the notice of demand.
Anwar claimed that the defamatory statement was quoted by MalaysiaKini and published in an article on the portal entitled “MB’s aide to Muhyiddin: Anwar paid RM1 as S’gor economic adviser” on the same day (Dec 7).
He claimed that the following day (Dec 8), the whole speech at the ceramah was published or caused to be republished by Muhyiddin on his Facebook account under the name ‘Muhyiddin Yassin’, and it had received more than 42,000 views, 506 comments, more than 2,800 reactions and 48 shares as at the date of the filing of the suit.
According to Anwar, the defamatory statement implied that he was untrustworthy and dishonest regarding the receipt of millions of ringgit from the Selangor state government as Economic Adviser and had lied to the public by stating that he had received only RM1 as salary for that role.
Anwar alleged that the defamatory remarks were calculated to severely disparage and undermine his reputation and character, apart from damaging his good name and character as a firm supporter of the rule of law and social reforms.
“In making these remarks in his speech, it was clear the defendant had bad intentions by ignoring the official reply of former Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri (Abdul) Khalid Ibrahim in the Selangor State Legislative Assembly on March 27, 2012, where he had clearly stated that my salary as the Selangor Economic Adviser was a symbolic RM1,” he said in the statement of claim.
Anwar claimed that Muhyiddin was reluctant to apologise and retract the statement and in fact, had continued to publish it and did not remove it until now although Anwar had denied the statement.
Anwar is seeking general, aggravated, exemplary and compensatory damages, among others, from Muhyiddin, apart from an injunction to restrain him from continuing to publish or disseminate similar defamatory statements.
Anwar’s lawyer Datuk S.N. Nair, when contacted by Bernama, said the suit was filed at 10.30 am today.
