KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 3 — Former Gombak PKR leader Dave Lee Kean Aun has issued a letter via his lawyers demanding RM200,000 in compensation and an apology from PKR’s Rawang state assemblyman Chua Wei Kiat, over an allegedly defamatory Facebook post.
In the February 2 letter of demand sighted by Malay Mail, Lee claimed that Chua had posted a Facebook post containing a photograph of Lee together with Muhammad Hilman Idham.
Lee claimed that the Facebook post had also allegedly made false statements of Lee purportedly offering money to an individual to join Perikatan Nasional (PN).
A screenshot of the Facebook post was included in Lee’s letter of demand to Chua.
Malay Mail understands that the Facebook post was said to have been created on January 27, but the post at the time of writing could not be found on Chua’s Facebook page.
On January 21, Gombak Setia state assemblyman Hilman, who is from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, had on Facebook announced that Lee, who was then the Gombak PKR division vice-chief, had decided to join Bersatu and PN. Hilman was previously PKR Youth deputy chief and had joined Bersatu in March 2020 after being sacked from PKR.
Also in Lee’s February 2 letter of demand, his law firm Hafiz Ruzaini & Co said that Lee is a reputable Chinese community leader in Gombak and well-known for his social work, and that Chua’s Facebook post had allegedly hurt Lee’s reputation as a prominent activist and Chinese community leader by suggesting that he was allegedly corrupt and had purportedly used money to offer PN membership.
The law firm claimed that the Facebook post had caused Lee to suffer severe stress and anguish as well as hardship in denying the allegations to the community, family members and the public.
“We have been instructed by our client that the allegations expressly and/or impliedly contained in the impugned words are untrue and amount to false accusation.
“The allegations are malicious, unfounded, and defamatory in nature and constitute a very grave and bitter libel and slander of our client,” the law firm said in the letter, adding that the alleged defamation has injured Lee’s reputation in carrying out his duties and trust as a politician and activist especially in Gombak.
On behalf of Lee, his law firm demanded that Chua make an immediate and unequivocal public retraction of the words in the Facebook post, and to issue a public apology on Chua’s Facebook and Twitter accounts — via a statement prepared by Lee — over the tarnishing of Lee’s reputation.
The law firm also demanded that Chua issue a written undertaking to not make any false and further allegation or other similar or related allegations against Lee or to repeat the same remarks in the Facebook post, and also demanded that Chua pay RM200,000 as compensation.
In the letter of demand, the law firm told Chua that failure to comply with the five demands — including the RM200,000 compensation and public apology — within seven days of receiving the letter would result in the starting of legal proceedings against Chua, where Lee would ask the court for orders to stop Chua from spreading false and further allegations against Lee.
Chua is also organising secretary of PKR’s youth wing.