KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 4 — Datuk Seri Edmund Santhara Kumar today lost his defamation lawsuit against Batu MP P. Prabakaran for commenting on the former deputy federal territories minister’s 55-day holiday to New Zealand in March 2021 amid travel restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic.

When contacted, Prabakaran’s lawyer Dinesh Muthal confirmed that Sessions Court judge Zulqarnain Hassan decided this morning to dismiss Santhara’s lawsuit.

According to Dinesh, the judge found that Prabakaran’s remarks amounted to fair comment, which is a defence in defamation law.

Dinesh said the court’s findings were due to reasons such as Prabakaran being a people’s representative who is entrusted with speaking about public issues, which included whether there were travel restrictions at the time and if a deputy minister should be on holiday during a national crisis.

Dinesh said the court also noted that Prabakaran had questioned Santhara’s actions as a deputy minister at the time, and not in the latter’s capacity an ordinary citizen.

Dinesh said the Sessions Court here also ordered Santhara to pay costs of RM18,000.

In a brief statement, Prabakaran said he was grateful the Sessions Court dismissed Santhara’s lawsuit, also thanking his lawyers and witnesses who had testified in this case including former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Dewan Negara lawmaker Isaiah Jacob.

Prabakaran, who is also the Batu PKR division chief, described the court victory as a win for Malaysians.

Prabakaran, who is also the Batu PKR division chief, described the court victory as a win for Malaysians.

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 for various court orders including for compensation and an injunction to stop Prabakaran from making defamatory remarks against him.

Santhara had also sought for 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.