GEORGE TOWN: Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow has been awarded RM350,000 in his defamation suit against business tycoon Tan Sri Tan Kok Ping for remarks made over a state land sale last year.
High Court judge Justice Quay Chew Soon found that Chow had proven his case against Tan.
Justice Quay awarded Chow RM350,000 in damages and RM50,000 in costs in Zoom proceedings on Tuesday (Dec 3).
"There are three essential grounds: that the statement refers to him (Chow), that it bears defamatory imputations, and that the statement was published.
"It is also my finding that the defence of fair comment was not successfully proven.
"The defendant acted with malice and is not entitled to depend on justification, fair comment and qualified privilege.
"The statement was uttered in Mandarin, the sting of the defamation lies in the three words in Mandarin when translated meaning 'tidak cekap', 'tak arif' and 'tak malu'.
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"In English it means incompetent, ignorant and shameless," he wrote.
Justice Quay said the impugned statement referred to the plaintiff as Chief Minister as Tan referred to the position.
"As the Chief Minister of Penang, the plaintiff carries heavy responsibilities to lead the administration of the state, and therefore must be seen as impeccable and a person of high integrity and intelligence to perform his public duties.
"When an influential figure accuses the plaintiff it can decimate the plaintiff's name.
"With this, it is my finding that the impugned statement is defamatory," he said.
Justice Quay said the defendant was motivated by malice in making the statement at a press conference and causing its publication in six Chinese dailies and one English daily.
On damages, Justice Quay said while Chow sought RM300,000 per publication, amounting to RM2.1mil for all seven, he was not in favour of an individual award for each one.
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"Considering the position of the Chief Minister and the great nature of the three offensive words and the defendants' defence and the absence of remorse or regret, I award global damages in the sum of RM350,000 to the plaintiff.
Chow sued Tan over the remarks, saying they injured his reputation both in his official and personal capacities.
He claimed Tan’s statement implied he was incompetent, unfit and unqualified to be chief minister.
According to the statement of claim, Tan called Chow “incompetent, ignorant and shameless” in Mandarin at a press conference on Oct 18 last year.
Tan was represented by Datuk K. Kirubakaran, Kek Boon Wei and Lee Wen Qian, while Simon Murali and Kok Yuen Lin appeared for Chow.
