KUCHING: Lawyer Chong Siew Chiang has decried Padungan assemblyman Dominique Ng for soliciting funds from the public recently to settle the RM100,000 compensatory and aggravated damages arising from a defamation suit.
SOCIAL JUSTICE?: Chong speaks to the press in response to Ng’s recent appeal to the public to help settle him settle damages amounting to RM100,000.
He pointed out that it was completely inappropriate for Ng to raise funds in the name of “social justice”, particularly after the court had ruled that he had defamed another party.
“Let the law take its course, there is an old saying ‘Be ye so high, the law is above you’. If this is what he calls social justice, then the legal action I took in court against him is the denial of social justice,” he told the press when met at the Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) headquarters here yesterday.
According to him, Ng had planned a fundraising dinner here in the name of social justice to help finance the settlement.
Chong, who is state DAP vice-chairman, asserted that social justice did not allow anyone to defame others.
He said the legal action taken against Ng was “a private matter between myself and him.”
Hence, he wanted to create awareness that nobody should define social justice in their own way.
“My legal action against him has nothing to do with politics. I need the people to know what social justice is and as to what they will do, they decide for themselves,” said Chong.
He recalled that during the parliamentary election campaign in 2008, Ng made a public remark that Chong was “an ungrateful and untrustworthy person”, imputing that he was a hypocrite.
“I reckon those words had highly defamed my character. I gave him the opportunity to tender an apology but there was no response. I even personally wrote him a letter before taking legal action.
“After the receipt of the summons, he denied the words are defamatory. He put up the defence that I’m defamatory, that he could justify the allegations.
“He pleaded qualified privileges and fair comment during the 11-day trial. He called five witnesses and there was not a shred evidence of justification, no qualified privileges and fair comment,” added Chong.
He said Ng did lodge an appeal after the verdict of the court was made.
“Which means that even up to now, he still maintains that those words are not defamatory. He has the right to appeal but my view is that it is most inappropriate under the name of social justice.”
Chong added that he also filed in a bill of cost for the 11-day trial amounting to RM150,000, which would be assessed by the court on March 15, 2011.