Shankar (right) with members of his legal team.
KUCHING (June 29): The High Court was yesterday told that Sarawak DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen’s Facebook post alleging that the then Deputy Chief Minister Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian had failed to manage the distribution of RM800,000 in food aid has the potential to reach about 24 million Facebook users in Malaysia.
A witness in the defamation suit filed by Dr Sim (now Deputy Premier) against Chong, Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) Sarawak deputy director Rodney Scott Dreman, said such post was also accessible to any individual around the world.
Kong (left) and his legal team at the courthouse.
Rodney said his testimony on the matter could be justified by two documents, firstly, a printout from statista.com to show the number of Facebook users in Malaysia in 2020 which was 24.81 million and, secondly, MCMC 2020 research on the number of internet users of 28.7 million or 88.7 per cent of the total Malaysian population.
The witness was testifying against Chong, who is also Stampin MP and Padungan assemblyman, during re-examination conducted by Dr Sim’s lawyer Shankar Ram Asnani.
Rodney also affirmed that Chong was the Facebook account user in question based on his name, profile photograph, email address and items being uploaded to his personal blogs therein.
Dr Sim, who is also SUPP president, filed the defamation suit against Chong in 2020, for alleging that he (Dr Sim) had failed to manage the food aid of RM800,000 meant for four state constituencies, namely Padungan, Batu Lintang, Pending and Kota Sentosa.
The allegation was also made in newspapers.
Shankar was assisted by lawyers Russell Lim and Yu Ying Ying while Chong was represented by lawyers Michael Kong, Chong Siew Chiang, Sim Kiat Leng and Brenda Chong.
The case, heard before Judge Dr Alwi Abdul Wahab, continues today.
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