KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 — Actress Rita Rudaini has been ordered by the High Court to file her statement of defence in response to a defamation suit filed by two academics who head the Badan Pemuafakatan Pendidikan Mara Malaysia (Muafakat) of Maktab Rendah Sains MARA (MRSM) Sungai Besar in Sabak Bernam, Selangor.
The suit was filed by Muafakat MRSM Sungai Besar president Prof Mohd Roslan Mohd Nor and vice-president Saidah Haris @ Harith over statements allegedly posted by the defendant, whose full name is Rita Rudaini Mohammad @ Mokhtar.
Lawyer Datuk Adnan Seman, representing the two plaintiffs, told the media that during today’s case management, High Court Judicial Commissioner Nixon Kennedy Kumbong directed Rita, as the defendant, to file her defence on or before April 6.
“The court has fixed April 13 for the next case management to update the status of the defence filing,” he said, adding that today’s proceedings were conducted by lawyer Haris Md Nor.
Meanwhile, lawyer Mohd Syakirin Syazwan Mohd Nayan, representing Rita, said the defence had filed a memorandum of appearance on March 9.
On December 6 last year, the two plaintiffs filed suit against Rita, alleging that she had posted several defamatory statements about them on her Instagram and WhatsApp accounts, particularly via the status feature of the latter.
Among the statements were remarks related to the “prof kangkung” issue involving the Muafakat leaders.
The plaintiffs claim that the statements were false and caused serious damage to their reputations. They also alleged that the statements were made with malicious intent to tarnish their reputation and were published recklessly without strong evidence.
