PUTRAJAYA, Oct 17 — The Court of Appeal has reserved its decision on the appeal by Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh against the High Court’s ruling that dismissed her defamation suit against former inspector-general of police Tan Sri Musa Hassan over remarks he made during a forum at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM).
A three-member bench chaired by Judge Datuk Azimah Omar deferred its decision after hearing submissions from Yeoh's counsel Razlan Hadri Zulkifli and Musa's counsel Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz.
"We reserve our decision. We need time to deliberate, and we have fixed October 21 for case management. The parties will be informed of the decision date during the case management," said Justice Azimah, who sat with judges Datuk Choo Kah Sing and Datuk Shahnaz Sulaiman.
On December 23 last year, the High Court dismissed her suit after finding that she had failed to establish that Musa’s statements were defamatory.
In 2020, Yeoh, then serving as Youth and Sports Minister, filed a suit against him over statements made during a forum at UiTM on January 30, 2020.
She claimed that, in his speech, Musa accused her of writing her book Becoming Hannah to turn Malaysia into a Christian nation, of having connections with evangelists and Jews to undermine Islam and Malaysia, and of prioritising her personal interests over the nation's, among others.
Earlier, Razlan submitted that the High Court erred in finding that the slanderous statements by the respondent (Musa) were not defamatory because the respondent only made a 'passing remark' towards the appellant.
"The slanderous statements refer to the appellant. The video of the statements was played in court and the High Court judicial commissioner (Arziah Mohamed Apandi) saw and heard the video. It was not just once, but up to three or four times," he said.
Razlan further submitted that the High Court judicial commissioner found that there was no publication because the respondent had no knowledge that his speech would be broadcast by UiTM online and that there was allegedly minimal engagement on UiTM’s social media posts.
"We argue that the slanderous statements were published to third parties because they were made in an auditorium in UiTM in the presence of at least 50 UiTM officials, academics, and students.
"The respondent was fully aware that his speech would be broadcast live. The statements were also reported by the media," he said, requesting RM1.5 million in general damages and RM500,000 in aggravated damages if the appellate court allows the appeal.
Meanwhile, Khairul argued that his client's disclosure in the forum was based on Yeoh's own book Becoming Hannah, as well as studies by academic experts.
"The High Court did not err in terms of law or fact in rejecting the appellant's claim," he said.
