KUALA LUMPUR – PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang today succeeded in his bid to strike out an originating summons filed against him by two Sabahans over an allegedly seditious remark against Christians published in the Harakah newspaper five years ago.
High court judge Datuk Akhtar Tahir, in his decision, allowed the application by Hadi to quash the suit filed by Maklin Masiau and Lawrence Jomiji Kinsil @ Maximilhian as the first and second plaintiffs, saying that the suit has no locus standi, is frivolous and an abuse of the court process.
“When I look at the originating summons, if anybody is to be blamed for seditious tendencies, they are the plaintiffs themselves. They (plaintiffs) have resurrected the matter that occurred in 2016 and made it a new issue.
“Therefore, I’m allowing the defendant’s (Hadi’s) application to strike out the originating summons because it is frivolous and an abuse of the court process,” he said.
The judge also ordered each of the plaintiffs to pay punitive costs of RM50,000 to the defendant.
Explaining the costs, Akhtar said as he had already pointed out, this was not a public interest litigation, so the plaintiffs could not hide behind such an excuse.
“It is a frivolous case that could choke the justice system with unnecessary litigation.
“(The phrase) ‘see you in court’ has now become a fashion statement. We shouldn’t allow... frivolous action, and for that, I’m going to impose RM50,000 in costs against each of the plaintiffs to be paid to the defendant,” the judge said.
Akhtar added that, in the case, the copy of the Harakah article was not even produced before the court.
“The court was led with a reproduction of the article in another publication which was fraught with danger because we don't know what was actually said in the actual article. This reproduction is in English, it is not clear whether the original Harakah article was in English or another language,” he said. – Bernama, May 7, 2021
