Kok files RM30m suit against Utusan

Seputeh member of parliament Teresa Kok today filed a RM30 million suit against

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Utusan Malaysia and its columnist Mohd Zaini Hassan for allegedly defaming her.

Kok, also a Selangor exco member, claimed that the Malay daily and Mohd Zaini had defamed her in an article published on Sept 10.

The said article referred to Kok's alleged role in asking a mosque to reduce the volume of its loudspeakers during the call to prayer for Muslims (azan). Kok had denied this previously.

Apart from the RM30 million in damages, Kok also wants an injunction to stop Utusan Malaysia and Mohd Zaini from repeating their defamatory words against her.

Her suit was filed by her lawyer SN Nair at the Kuala Lumpur High Court registry this morning.

Kok said in her statement of claim that the article was published for cheap publicity and with the express intention to damage her reputation.

She said that the article was published without the daily or Mohd Zaini first making effective and proper queries into the truth and veracity.

"The article was self-evidently of the most serious and damaging nature and was recklessly made," she added.

She further said that the article meant that she was a racist, a religious and racial bigot, an untrustworthy person, intolerant and a chauvinistic politician who is anti-Islam and anti-Malay.

"They published the article with the intention calculated to disparage the plaintiff (Kok) in both her private and official capacities, including her capacity as an MP, state assemblyperson and a state exco member," she said in her statement of claim.

She said the article was widely republished and disseminated and circulated, and that it has injured her reputation and caused her considerable distress, anxiety and embarrassment.

Although she had sought a retraction and apology from the daily and the columnist, they had failed to respond, she added.

Kok's alleged anti-Islam stand in relation to the azan was among reasons cited for her detention under the Internal Security Act on Sept 12. She was however released a week later.

Her family home has since been targeted by unknown persons, while her photo was ripped out of banners bearing Hari raya greetings.