KHAIRY JAMALUDDIN WINS DEFAMATION SUIT, AWARDED RM2.5 MILLION

KUALA LUMPUR, April 18 (Bernama) -- Former Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has been awarded RM2.5 million in damages in a defamation lawsuit he filed against Mohd Rasyiq Mohd Alwi, also known as Ustaz Abu Syafiq, over social media posts related to the COVID-19 vaccine made three years ago.

High Court Judge Datuk Raja Ahmad Mohzanuddin Shah Raja Mohzan also awarded RM50,000 in costs to the former Rembau Member of Parliament.

On Jan 25, 2022, Khairy sued Mohd Rasyiq for allegedly making several defamatory statements, including posting three videos and photos on ‘Ustaz Abu Syafiq’s’ Instagram on Oct 20, 2021, and Jan 6 and 10, 2022.

Khairy claimed that the defamatory statements meant, among other things, that he lied and deceived the public by claiming that he had been given the COVID-19 vaccine and received the third dose, as well as falsifying information regarding his vaccination status.

Judge Raja Ahmad Mohzanuddin, in his judgment said, the court found that the impugned statements, in their natural and ordinary meaning, impute dishonourable or discreditable conduct and a lack of integrity to the plaintiff.

“As a result, these statements tend to lower the plaintiff's reputation in the eyes of right-thinking members of society, which has an adverse and direct effect on his reputation in government and exposes him to hatred, contempt, ridicule, or avoidance by that society.

“These statements are inherently damaging to the plaintiff's ministerial and personal reputation. As a result, I agree with the plaintiff after reviewing the testimony and documents provided by him, indicating that such statements are unquestionably false, baseless, unsubstantiated, and unwarranted,” he said.

The judge said the court accepted the plaintiff's evidence, including that the claim about the third vaccine dose requirement for Malaysian Muslims performing umrah is true, as it matches Saudi Arabia's rule for those who received the Sinovac or Sinopharm vaccines.

“The plaintiff did not discuss specific vaccine brand requirements for umrah or haj. At the press conference on Dec 28, 2021, the plaintiff emphasised the Ministry of Health's intention to cooperate with the tourism companies managing the Umrah package to ensure that all Malaysians wishing to perform Umrah would receive their booster doses.

“There were no restrictions on vaccine brands or requirements by the Saudi Arabian government mentioned by the plaintiff,” he said.

Regarding the second, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth defamatory statements, the judge said the court found that the plaintiff was vaccinated twice and received his booster dose, as confirmed by PW2 (former Director-General of Health of Malaysia Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah). 

He said according to the evidence, Khairy had volunteered to take part in an informal study to measure his antibody levels after receiving a third dose, as he was first vaccinated with Sinovac on March 18, 2021 and then vaccinated with Pfizer (Comirnaty) on Sept 4, the same year as his third dose. 

“In fact, when the then Prime Minister and PW2 (Dr Noor Hisham) took Pfizer vaccine doses as the first and second Malaysians to do so, the plaintiff purposely chose not to take this vaccine as his first dose.

“The plaintiff, however, waited and then took the CoronaVac vaccine (Sinovac) as his first and second doses after sensing that public perception was somewhat doubtful at the early stage of the vaccine implementation period, to ensure public trust in other vaccines, apart from Pfizer,” he said.

The judge further said there was not a shred of evidence to show that Khairy, as then Minister of Health, failed to manage and curtail the spread of COVID-19, as suggested by the defendant.

“In fact, Malaysia's ability to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic under the plaintiff's leadership as Minister of Health has been recognised worldwide.

“According to PW2, Malaysia has been hailed as one of the successful nations when it comes to managing, dealing with, and curbing the deadly disease,” he added.

Judge Raja Ahmad Mohzanuddin said the defendant deliberately took Khairy’s previous statements out of their original context and timeframe and presented them in an untruthful and misleading way to create a false narrative. 

“I think it was utterly irresponsible of the defendant to create doubt and attack the plaintiff in such a manner when most, if not all Malaysians, were in a high state of fear when faced with a new novel virus that had never been seen before, except maybe in movies,” he said.

The judge said in the face of the serious health crisis that no one has ever been trained to handle, they left their fates only to God while placing trust in the Malaysian Government to navigate their way out of the deadly situation. 

“At that time, preserving lives and livelihoods was the main priority agenda of the Government of Malaysia, which the plaintiff was entrusted to lead alongside the then Director-General of Health.

“In accordance with international decisions being made, the plaintiff had to make quick decisions based on the available evidence and advice provided to him by doctors, public health officials and medical and scientific advisors,” he added.

Judge Raja Ahmad Mohzanuddin said this case should serve not only as a lesson to the defendant, but also to others not to spread unverified, unprovoked and false information, especially in a time of life-and-death crisis. 

“Moreover, the publication of a photograph of one of the plaintiff's children is something that must not be tolerated since it would endanger an innocent child. This child had nothing to do with the plaintiff's roles and responsibilities in the COVID-19 battle,” he said.

The judge said the court also found that such defamatory statements could demoralise and affect the emotional state of frontliners led by the plaintiff at the time. 

“Since most of us were not frontliners, we could not comprehend what they had experienced during those critical times, which remains unimaginable even to me.

“Not only were they overwhelmed and swamped with their efforts and full dedication in dealing with the rising number of patients, including critical ones, but they also had to attend to such patients with full devotion without even considering their well-being while thinking about what they might carry home to their families. 

“As a consequence, making defamatory statements intended to provoke responses with unsupported and false narratives had aggravated the situation further. The right to champion a cause without distorting the facts and opinions is always noble as long as the relevant laws and moral boundaries are adhered to.

 “Therefore, the plaintiff is entitled to the sum of general damages of RM2 million which is RM250,000 for each of the defamatory statements and RM250,000 for exemplary damages, while RM250,000 for aggravated damages, totalling RM2.5 million,” he said.

Before handing down the decision, Raja Ahmad Mohzanuddin expressed his condolences to Khairy on the death of his father-in-law, Malaysia’s fifth Prime Minister, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, last Monday

 Meanwhile, Khairy, when met by the media, said he was grateful for today's decision.

"I am impressed with the judge's argument, where he said this (the defamatory statement) not only affected my credibility (when serving as Minister of Health) but also affected the credibility of all parties involved, especially the frontliners (frontline workers) in our efforts to fight COVID-19.

"This is not only a victory for me but also a recognition of the efforts of the Ministry of Health (MOH) and all those involved to free Malaysia from the pandemic," he said.

-- BERNAMA