A MILESTONE IN THE APPORTIONMENT OF JUSTICE: Rais and Masnah at the Kuala Lumpur High Court. — Bernama photo
KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court yesterday ordered a blogger to pay RM300,000 in damages to Information Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim for defaming the minister in a blog article.
Justice Datin Zabariah Mohd Yusof also ordered Amizudin Ahmat to pay RM100,000 in costs to Rais.
In January this year, Rais, 69, sued Amizudin, 42, who is also a Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Youth committee member, for defamation over an article posted in the latter’s blog, sharpshooterblogger.blogspot.com, on or about Dec 28 last year.
In her ruling, Zabariah said the amount awarded to Rais was reasonable considering the facts and nature of the allegation.
She awarded the amount for compensatory, aggravated and exemplary damages.
In his suit, Rais said the entire words in the Malay language article were malicious an d defamatory of him and the words in the article meant and/or were understood to mean that he was guilty of a serious offence of having raped and capable of murdering his Indonesian maid.
A woman who worked as a maid for him for eight years was later reported by an Indonesian news portal as denying that she had ever been mistreated or raped by her employer.
Zabariah held that the allegation was very serious, and that if one was to believe it to be true, it would not only destroy Rais’ reputations nationally and internationally, but also affect Rais’ personal life and his family.
She said that in determining the quantum of damages, the court took into consideration the conduct of the plaintiff.
“There is no evidence directly or otherwise to suggest any bad conduct on the part of the plaintiff to deserve such an imputation by the writing of the defendant,” she said.
She stressed that the allegation was rape against an individual from another country, a criminal offence which she described as “the most gross of allegation one could make against an individual.”
Zabariah said the allegation was not healthy in terms of diplomatic ties, and added fuel to the fire of wrath of the neighbouring country in the wake of cases of their citizens being abused when working as maids in the country.
“There has not been any allegation of such nature in the cases of defamation cited,” she said.
She pointed out that the publication was via a blog site which was accessible to everyone who opened the site and that the circulation was not only confined to within the country but also to the world outside.
Zabariah said from the evidence, it was found that Amizudin published the article first and decided to investigate the truth of the article subsequently, which was “a very reckless conduct on his part.”
“This is clear from his evidence that he went to Jakarta to investigate only after he had published it on his blog site.
“He went there for three days and could not get the alleged victim to verify his story,” she said.
She also said there was no further action on Amizudin’s part and it showed that the defendant could not care less as to the truth of what he had published about the plaintiff.
Approached by reporters later, Rais, who came to the court accompanied by his wife Datin Seri Masnah Rais, described the ruling as “a milestone in the apportionment of justice.”
He said the ruling should provide adequate reflections to all levels of the society, especially those who passed time to write about others, to be careful when writing stories about any individual.
“It is a great day; it truly reflects our confidence in our judiciary. It also rings a bell for those who constantly write about others in blogs or columns, (to) respect the rights of others,” he said.
Counsel Datuk Seri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and Azad Bashir appeared for Rais while William Leong acted for the blogger. — Bernama