Kota Kinabalu: A lawyer’s suit against a woman over remarks on her Facebook account of threatening to ‘destroy’ Christians has been settled, after the woman apologised to the lawyer and also the Christian community of Malaysia, at the Sessions Court, Thursday.
The defendant Wan Asshima Kamaruddin had made the remarks in response to the High Court’s ruling that allowed non-Muslims to use the word ‘Allah’ in religious publications.
She read out the apology statement to plaintiff Marcel Jude Joseph, at the case proceedings which took place online via the Zoom application before Sessions Court Judge Dayang Ellyn Narisa Abang Ahmad.
The court had entered the consent order between the plaintiff and defendant namely, the defendant to apologise to plaintiff for the unlawful statement that the defendant has made and such apology be recorded before the court, the defendant undertake not to utter such statement against the Christian Community of Malaysia and not to repeat similar act or carry out the threats in her statement.
The other consent order were the defendant shall pay cost to the plaintiff in the sum of RM500 within 14 days from Thursday and the plaintiff shall discontinue the action forthwith.
During the proceeding, the defendant in reading her apology said: “Saya Puan Asshima dengan ini befikiran waras dan matang berjanji tidak akan mengulangi semula dan saya memohon kemaafan kepada Tuan Marcel Jude dan Komuniti Kristian Malaysia dan tidak akan lagi membuat kesalahan itu semula. Ini mengajar saya supaya lebih rasional dan bersikap saling menghormati kaum yang lain-lain di negara ini. Dan saya berharap pihak Kristian di negara ini boleh menerima saya sebagai seorang insan yang pernah melakukan kesilapan”.
(I, Mrs. Asshima with a sane and mature mind and promise not to repeat the whole thing and I apologise to Mr. Marcel Jude and the Christian Community of Malaysia and will not make that mistake again. This taught me to be more rational and be respectful of other races in this country. And I hope that the Christians in this country can accept me as a person who has made mistakes.)
In response, Marcel said: “I wish to thank the defendant for her remorseful statement and the reason why we file this action because of the serious statement that she made towards the Christian community which was very hurtful and great concern to the Christian Community in Sabah, Sarawak and Semananjung Malaysia. With her apology and undertaking, I wish her all the best in her future and I specially want to thank this Honourable Court and Your Honour for the part that you have undertaken in the amicable settlement of this issue”.
The court then granted order in terms to the aforementioned prayers and the trial dates were vacated.
The court applauded the approach and positive attitude by both plaintiff and defendant in settling the matter.
Marcel in his statement of claims had expressed objection to a 15-minute video posted by the defendant in particular to the following part where Wan Asshima in her Facebook account said “Jangan sampai kami minta pada majlis-majlis untuk tutup semua gereja yang ada di Malaysia ini. Jangan sampai saya dan team saya buat tindakan untuk menghancurkan puak-puak Kristian di Negara Malaysia ini”.
Marcel stated that the statement was malicious, seditious and anti-Malaysians given the multi-racial and multi religious fabric of Malaysia; the statement is against the letter and the spirit of the Federal Constitution and the Malaysia Agreement and is highly offensive to the Christian community especially to those in the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak.
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