KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 20 – Anwar Ibrahim has initiated a defamation suit against Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin over his remark that Anwar received RM15 million from the Selangor government while serving as its economic advisor.
The suit filed by solicitors SN Nair & Partners at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on behalf of the prime minister seeks general, compensatory, aggravated and exemplary damages from Muhyiddin, who was named as defendant.
Anwar also sought an injunction to restrain the Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman from further uttering, writing, publishing, or distributing the impugned libelous words, or words of the same or similar effect.
It comes after Anwar sent a legal notice to Muhyiddin on December 7 demanding that Muhyiddin apologise and retract his statements made two days earlier during a ceramah in conjunction with the Padang Serai by-election.
Anwar had demanded that an unconditional apology be published in newspapers and media of his choice. He had also sought compensation over “serious injury” to his reputation.
In his statement of claim, Anwar said Muhyiddin’s remarks were uttered on Dec 5 at a campaign event in support of PN candidate Azman Nasrudin at Taman Selasih in Kulim during the run-up to the Padang Serai parliamentary election.
Muhyiddin’s remarks were published on TikTok and garnered about 1.1 million views, shared 2,169 times, liked 21,400 times, and commented on 6,061 times, the court filing claimed.
Anwar claims Muhyiddin’s entire speech at the ceramah was then published on Facebook on Dec 8 despite the letter of demand sent to his lawyers the day before.
He said Muhyiddin’s remarks, among others, depicted him as an unreliable and untruthful person. He added that it also gave a false impression that he is a sinner, a liar, a greedy person, and a hypocrite.
He said Muhyiddin’s slanderous and libellous words published have been done maliciously with impunity, without due regard to the truth of the matter and are seriously prejudicial and detrimental to his reputation.
As a result of the remarks, Anwar said his reputation has been irreparably damaged, with his character and social standing severely tarnished and degraded, and that he has been exposed to severe public ridicule, hatred, and humiliation.
“The plaintiff has suffered severe mental distress, anxiety, and shame as a result, for which the plaintiff is entitled to claim aggravated and exemplary damages,” the statement of claim read.
Anwar was appointed Selangor economic advisor in November 2009 when the late Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim was menteri besar, continuing to hold the post when the state was led by Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.
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