Ex-deputy minister Edmund Santhara appeals after losing defamation suit against Batu MP over NZ trip

Ida Lim
·2-min read
Malay Mail
Malay Mail

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 17 — Datuk Seri Edmund Santhara Kumar has filed an appeal against the Sessions Court's dismissal of his defamation lawsuit against Batu MP P. Prabakaran over the latter's 2021 remarks on the former deputy minister's 55-day holiday in New Zealand.

In response to Malay Mail's enquiry, Santhara's lawyer Krishnan Narayanan Nair last night said his client's notice of appeal has been filed at the High Court on August 14.

Krishnan told Malay Mail that the appeal is now scheduled for case management on September 7.

On August 4, Sessions Court judge Zulqarnain Hassan dismissed Santhara's defamation lawsuit, after finding that Prabakaran succeeded in proving that his remarks were "fair comments", which is a defence in defamation law.

Regarding Prabakaran's comments questioning Santhara's trip to New Zealand amid travel restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Sessions Court had among other things said that the issues of travel restrictions and a deputy minister going on holiday were public issues, and that Prabakaran as a people's representative was entrusted with voicing out on public issues.

The Sessions Court had also said Prabakaran had questioned Santhara’s actions as a deputy minister at the time, and not in the latter’s capacity as an ordinary citizen.

On June 23, 2021, Santhara sued Prabakaran over the latter’s March 17, 2021 remarks to the media outside the New Zealand High Commission.

In his defamation lawsuit, Santhara had sought various court orders including compensation and an injunction to stop Prabakaran from making defamatory remarks against him.

Santhara had also sought court orders for Prabakaran to publish an apology and retraction of the alleged defamatory remarks on Prabakaran’s social media platforms; in three newspapers published in Bahasa Malaysia, English and Tamil; and to be carried as an advertisement on the front page of New Zealand’s newspaper New Zealand Herald.

On March 1, 2021, Santhara on his Facebook page said then prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had approved his application for leave for 55 working days from December 28, 2020, until March 20, 2021, to visit his family and said he had followed all the necessary procedures before leaving the country to go to New Zealand and that he underwent quarantine there from December 24, 2020, to January 9, 2021.

At that time, Santhara had said the purpose of his New Zealand trip was to visit his wife who was having health issues, and his children, saying he had not met his nine-year-old child for almost a year. He had also said he had not taken any leave since his appointment as deputy minister on March 10, 2020, and defended his performance as Segamat MP then.

Santhara had also said he had left the country for New Zealand before movement control order (MCO) was reintroduced in Malaysia.

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