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SEGAMBUT Member of Parliament and Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh has won her defamation suit against Universiti Utara Malaysia academic Dr Kamarul Zaman Yusoff, with the High Court ordering him to pay RM400,000 in damages.
In a decision delivered by Judge Datuk Aliza Sulaiman, the court found that Facebook posts made by Kamarul Zaman in 2017 were defamatory, malicious and lacked any legal justification.
The suit, filed in 2022, stemmed from statements alleging Yeoh was using her political platform to propagate Christianity and convert Malaysia into a Christian state, citing her autobiography ‘Becoming Hannah: A Personal Journey’ as supposed evidence.
“He suggests the plaintiff is a threat to Islam and used her position to 'Christianise' the country,” said the judge. “In a multiracial and multireligious country where religion is a sensitive issue, this would surely expose the plaintiff to hatred, ridicule and contempt.”
The court ruled that the defences of justification, fair comment, and qualified privilege were not made out. Even if they had been, the judge noted, “the plaintiff has proven on the balance of probabilities that the defendant was actuated by malice.”
Judge Aliza added that had the defendant genuinely believed a criminal offence had occurred, the appropriate action would have been to lodge a police report rather than publish inflammatory posts online.
“Publication was not in dispute, and the statements clearly targeted the plaintiff by name. His personal interpretation of the book is not relevant — what matters is how an ordinary reader would perceive the posts,” she said. “Readers would reasonably believe that the plaintiff was unlawfully spreading Christianity and, by implication, committing a crime.”
The judge dismissed the defence’s claim that the remarks were directed at the Democratic Action Party (DAP) more broadly. “Even the title of the article made the target unmistakable.”
As a result, the court awarded RM400,000 in general and aggravated damages — RM200,000 for each of the two defamatory posts — along with RM80,000 in costs. However, Yeoh’s application for a public apology was denied, with the judge saying such apologies may appear insincere.
An injunction was also granted to prevent the defendant, his agents or representatives from republishing the impugned statements or anything similar.
Yeoh, who was present in court with her counsel Sangeet Kaur Deo, thanked her legal team and expressed relief at the outcome.
“After enduring years of defamation, justice has finally prevailed. These allegations were entirely false, and I have been praying since 2017 for this,” she told reporters. “I sincerely hope that moving forward, no one will resort to exploiting religious sentiments or spreading baseless accusations about me or my book.”
Yeoh added, “In a multiracial and multireligious country like ours, invoking such sentiments is akin to playing with fire. It is dangerous, especially when it involves slander. I believe slander is prohibited in Islam.”
The defendant was not present in court for the decision. - May 30, 2025