Penang High Court awards CM RM400,000 in case against tycoon
GEORGE TOWN: Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow has won a defamation suit against business tycoon Tan Sri Tan Kok Ping and was awarded RM350,000 in damages and RM50,000 in costs.
High Court judge Justice Quay Chew Soon ruled in Chow’s favour, stating that the plaintiff had successfully proven his case against the defendant.
The lawsuit arose from remarks made by Tan regarding a state land sale, during which he called Chow “incompetent”, “ignorant” and “shameless” in Mandarin at a press conference in October last year.
Justice Quay said the plaintiff had established the defamation claim based on three key elements – the statement in Mandarin made by Tan referred to Chow, the statement contained defamatory content and was publicly disseminated.
He said Tan had no reason to publicly humiliate Chow by using those three words at the press conference.
He said the defendant was motivated by malice in making the impugned statement, published in six Chinese dailies and one English daily.
“The defendant had no reason to convene the press conference because the subject of the joint development agreement (JDA) of the Batu Kawan Industrial Park 2 project with Umech Land Sdn Bhd had ceased to exist.
“At the time of the press conference, the JDA was already terminated. Therefore, the statement served no public interest, as it pertained to something that does not exist.
“Additionally, it was not made on a privileged occasion, as the public had no legal or moral obligation to be informed about a non-existent project,” he said in his verdict via Zoom proceedings at 9am yesterday.
Justice Quay said the defendant’s anger towards the plaintiff over the Silver Jubilee Home for the Aged issue had never subsided.
“When the opportunity arose to publicly humiliate the plaintiff in respect of an issue which was unrelated to the Silver Jubilee Home for the Aged, the defendant seized it,” said Quay, while highlighting a clear parallel between Tan’s resignation letter from the Silver Jubilee Home trustee board and his subsequent press conference statement, both of which were scathing attacks on Chow’s character as Chief Minister.
Last week, the same court dismissed a defamation suit filed by Tan against Chow regarding the Silver Jubilee Home for the Aged.
The court found that Chow’s statements concerning Tan’s resignation as a trustee of the care home were factual and made without malice.
Tan, also Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce life honorary president, was ordered to pay Chow RM50,000 in costs then.
Chow is the care home’s board chairman by virtue of being the Chief Minister.
In delivering his judgment, Justice Quay said that as the Chief Minister of Penang, the plaintiff must be perceived as capable and intelligent in his duties, commanding the respect of the people of Penang.
He said the impugned statement by Tan had targeted the plaintiff specifically in his capacity as Chief Minister.
“When an influential figure like Tan accuses Chow of being incompetent, ignorant and shameless, it has the propensity to smear Chow’s reputation. Therefore, it is my finding that the impugned statement is defamatory,” he said.
On the damages awarded to Chow, Justice Quay said while the plaintiff had sought RM300,000 per publication (totalling RM2.1mil for seven publications), he was not in favour of awarding damages for each one individually.
On the issue of an apology, Justice Quay declined to use his discretion to order a public apology.
“There is no indication from the defendant of any willingness to apologise. An apology must be sincere and come from a contrite heart. Forcing an apology from someone who is steadfast in his stance that the wrong he did was supposedly right would be counterproductive,” he said.
Tan was represented by Datuk K. Kirubakaran, Kek Boon Wei and Lee Wen Qian, while Simon Murali and Kok Yuen Lin appeared for Chow.
