The Court of Appeal has ordered former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan to pay RM250,000 in damages to the newly appointed Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories), Hannah Yeoh, for slandering her by claiming she was seeking to turn Malaysia into a “Christian nation” 6 years ago.
According to a report by Sinar Harian, a 3-judge panel ruled this while also ordering Musa Hassan to pay an additional RM60,000 in costs to Yeoh.
“Grateful and happy”
The Federal Territories Minister took to her Facebook page to express her gratitude for the court’s decision as well as to provide a bit of background as to where the defamation suit started.
Elated by the court’s decision, Yeoh stated:
“This case started when Musa Hassan issued defamatory statements in a forum at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) 6 years ago, claiming: ‘And they also want to destroy Islam in this country because they have links with the Evangelist group. They also have links with Jews to destroy this country.‘”
Moreover, the former IGP also reportedly said, “And a lot of research I have done, where I found that there is a connection between the Evangelist group and the DAP party here, yes, because they have written a book, Yeoh has also written a book to make this country a Christian country.”
She went on to share how his words affected her life and is thankful for the help of her team of lawyers.
Yeoh elaborated, “For 6 years, I had to live with various lies and slander floating around online that not only tarnished my good name but also confused the public because the accusations were made by the former IGP, who is expected to act more carefully, based on authentic facts, instead of misleading allegations and creating wrong perceptions.”
“I expressed my gratitude to God and expressed my appreciation to my legal team, Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan, Razlan Hadri Zulkifli, Sangeet Kaur Deo and Lim Wei Jiet, who were involved throughout this legal process. Now, my focus is to continue to carry out the trust of the people with full integrity, responsibility and sincerity. May my life continue to glorify God through my service to the people,” she added.
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