KUCHING: Santubong MP Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar is set to testify today in the hearing of his civil defamation suit against DAP Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen, over the latter branding him a “hypocrite”.
Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar
High Court Judicial Commissioner Dr Lim Hock Leng agreed to this after listening to the litigating parties during the first day of hearing yesterday.
The bone of contention in Wan Junaidi’s claim is that the words ‘a fair comment to such as an act from a person of his standing is hypocrisy of the highest degree’, which were uttered by Chong when chairing a press conference at the DAP Sarawak headquarters on March 31, 2019, were referring to the Santubong MP.
The remarks were published in The Borneo Post and several other newspapers on April 1, 2019, and also uploaded by a news portal in a video, according to the claim.
On April 3 2019, Wan Junaidi demanded that Chong withdraw the offending remarks and to publish an apology in newspapers of different languages, or face legal action.
Chong Chieng Jen
He then filed the defamation suit when Chong failed to do so, and is seeking about RM1 million in damages.
Chong is represented by a team of lawyers headed by his father Chong Siew Chiang, assisted by lawyers Michael Kong and Tan Kee Heng.
Wan Junaidi, himself a lawyer, is represented by counsel Wilfred Yap.
The hearing of the suit ends tomorrow (March 5).