Public officials too have reputations deserving of protection — Hafiz Hassan

Lim Guan Eng v Ruslan bin Kassim and another appeal

The press statement, among others, questioned the plaintiff’s loyalty to Malaysia. The plaintiff sued the first defendant, the president of the political party , the political party , the editor and the newspapers concerned for defamation. The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and dismissed the plaintiff’s claim on the ground that he had noThe plaintiff, however, was granted leave to appeal to the Federal Court against the COA’s decision on the question whether an earlier Federal Court’s decision in[2019] allowed a government official to sue for defamation in their official capacity.

The three apex judges, though, said that the law does allow a government official to sue for defamation in their official capacity. After a lengthy deliberation on the law as expounded in the cases in various jurisdictions, Federal Court judge Harmindar Singh, who delivered the decision of the majority, said:

“Once besmirched by an unfounded allegation in a national newspaper, a reputation can be damaged forever, especially if there is no opportunity to vindicate one’s reputation. When this happens, society as well as the individual is the loser. “Foremost of the reasons is that a public official is capable of being defamed in the same way as any other ordinary citizen as both share the right to dignity and reputation.”“It is discriminatory that the reputation of public officials in matters affecting their official functions is singled out for adverse treatment. There are far more influential persons in the community who affect public life.

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