Court of Appeal Overturns High Court Defamation Ruling Involving Zuraida, MalaysiaNow and Lim Guan Eng

PUTRAJAYA, Sept 9 – The Court of Appeal has unanimously overturned a High Court ruling that had previously ordered former housing and local government minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin and two others to pay RM50,000 in damages to DAP adviser Lim Guan Eng in a defamation suit. A three-judge panel comprising Justices Datuk Seri Mohd Firuz Jaffril, Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid, and Datuk Amarjeet Singh allowed the appeals filed by Zuraida, MalaysiaNow editor Muhammad Abd Ar-Rahman Koya, and MNow Media Sdn Bhd. The appellate court also dismissed Lim’s cross-appeal seeking higher damages and ordered him to pay RM30,000 in legal costs.

Delivering the panel’s unanimous decision, Justice Mohd Firuz held that the article in question did not carry the defamatory meaning alleged by Lim. Criticizing the trial court’s assessment, Justice Mohd Firuz declared, “We find that there were obvious errors in the judgment of the High Court and the judgment cannot stand,” adding that the lower court’s handling of the defence was purely unsatisfactory. The panel observed that the High Court had evaluated the defence of justification solely on documentary evidence while ignoring actual verbal exchanges between the two ministers during their meeting, and pointed out contradictory findings where the High Court judge found malice in one part of her judgment while holding there was no evidence of malice in another.

The legal dispute stems from a defamation suit filed by Lim, a former Finance Minister, at the Shah Alam High Court on June 7, 2024. In his statement of claim, Lim alleged that Zuraida had made false and damaging statements concerning him in relation to a housing project intended for former plantation workers in Bestari Jaya, Selangor. In March, the High Court ruled in Lim’s favor, finding the statements defamatory and awarding him RM50,000 in damages, prompting the defendants to appeal and Lim to file a cross-appeal for increased compensation.

During the appellate hearing, Lim’s counsel, Datuk Sankara Narayanan Nair, argued that the RM50,000 award was insufficient and contended that prevailing case law trends justified an award of RM250,000. Conversely, defence counsel Nizamuddin Abdul Hamid submitted that the comments published by MNow Media were not defamatory in nature and urged the court to set aside the High Court’s findings. Following the delivery of the judgment, Sankara informed media representatives that he would seek further instructions from Lim on whether to file an appeal before the Federal Court.

–NMT