SIBU, Dec 10 — Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) president Dato Seri Wong Soon Koh is pleased that the High Court has ruled in his favour in the defamation suit brought against him by the state government.

"I am happy, and I would like here to tell you that it is in a way, not proper for the government to sue me because I am the people’s representative.

"I have every right to bring matters of public interest, of public importance to the government,” he told a press conference at the PSB Bawang Assan office here today.

Wong said he had experienced several weeks of anguish while waiting for the verdict, and throughout the 10-day trial in the High Court in Sibu, he had spent a lot of time and effort in preparation for the lawsuit.

However, he said he had no regrets as he had spoken up for the people.

"As a wakil rakyat (elected representative), as a Yang Berhormat, as a leader of the opposition in Sarawak, it is my duty to do so.

"I spoke on behalf of the people of Sarawak. I am happy that the court has ruled in my favour and I have been vindicated from the defamation suit brought against me by the state government,” he said.

In his ruling today, Judicial Commissioner Christopher Chin said the defendant’s statement on the settlement of the State Sales Tax (SST) with Petronas on May 9 last year showed no clear evidence of malice towards the plaintiff.

The judge also ordered the plaintiff to settle a cost of RM30,000 to the defendant.

Wong said the entire defamation suit started with a joint statement issued between Petronas and the Sarawak government.

He questioned why Petronas only had to pay RM2 billion instead of RM3.987 billion to the Sarawak government.

He also questioned why the state government agreed to reduce the SST imposed on Petronas from the current five per cent in phases.

The third question he asked was why the state government agreed to stop its claim against Petronas to recover the SST.

"I asked why is it so? The court already ruled in favour of the state government allowing it to go ahead collecting the tax imposed on Petronas. Why does the state government have to drop the case?” he said.

Wong also asked about the Petroleum Development Act (PDA) 1974 in which Petronas is still recognised to have full ownership and control over all oil and gas resources in the country, including Sarawak.

"I asked these questions, and I wanted the state government to tell us because prior to the issuance of the joint statement, there was no open discussion, no consultation whatsoever, and it was done quietly and was announced without notice, out of the blue.

"And as a leader of the opposition, as the people’s representative, I have to ask these questions on behalf of the people of Sarawak because they (state government) do not practice transparency,” he said.

He said it should be incumbent on the state government to answer his questions instead of suing to suppress him from asking further.

"As you know, once you are sued and brought to the court, you can no longer be engaged in the subject matter discussion.

"If you continue to speak on the subject, it is really tantamount to contempt of the court, and so the state government chose the easier way out instead of answering my questions,” he said.

Wong also said that bringing the issue to the court has been a waste of government’s money as well.

The state government had claimed that Wong had defamed it in the statement issued on May 9, which questioned the settlement with Petronas on the SST.

It sued Wong for RM5 million.

The defendant closed the case on Sept 15 after 10 days of trial which started on July 26. Ten witnesses were called.

Out of the 10 witnesses, seven were the prosecution witnesses and the other three were witnesses called by the defence.

Wong was represented by defence counsel George Lo, Jonathan Tay, Clement Wong, Thien Siaw Lien and Yvonne Sia.

The state was represented by Dato JC Fong, Adzrul Adzlan, Oliver Chua and Anisa Fadhillah Mohamed Jamel.

The state government had filed an appeal against the decision of the High Court.

Present at the press conference were PSB’s candidate for Dudong, Wong Hie Ping, candidate for Nangka, Intanurazean Wan Sapuan Daud, candidate for Bukit Assek, Andrew Ting and candidate for Pelawan, Dr Low Chong Nguan. — Borneo Post