Yesterday, the Pandan MP and PKR vice president, Rafizi Rami was found guilty of criminal defamation by the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court and fined RM1,800 – RM200 short of the RM2,000 fine which would have resulted in his disqualification as Member of Parliament and a parliamentary by-election.
In my five decades in Malaysian politics, DAP leaders and I have often been the target of criminal defamation by our political opponents, particularly from, but not confined to, UMNO quarters.
I will like to ask the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali, whether criminal defamation proceedings would be instituted in any one of the following five cases of criminal defamation against DAP leaders, viz:
1. Accusation that I had caused the May 13, 1969 racial riots in Kuala Lumpur, leading illegal street processions in Kuala Lumpur with anti-Malay slogans and abuses when I was never in Kuala Lumpur in the relevant period – as I was in Malacca where I was elected as Member of Parliament on May 11 and 12, 1969 and Kota Kinabalu on May 13 to campaign for independent candidates in Sabah as polling in Sabah was a week after Peninsular Malaysia, facts which would still be in the police archives.
2. That DAP was opposed to Article 3 of the Malaysian Constitution and wanted to create a Christian Malaysia, which was a downright lie as the proposal of a Christian Malaysia was never broached at any party function at any level or by any DAP leader in 50 years of DAP.
3. That the Israelis offered RM1.2 billion to DAP for the 13th General Election campaign in exchange for DAP agreement for an Israeli naval base in Port Dickson, a complete concoction without any iota of truth.
4. That the Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and the DAP/Pakatan Harapan Penang State Government had approved a casino license, a total lie as the authority to approve casino license was under the jurisdiction and in the hands of the Federal Government and not State Government.
5. That DAP supported Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) because the Chinese control trade in Malaysia.