KUALA LUMPUR: Former Penang Deputy Chief Minister II Dr. P Ramasamy has filed a defamation suit against Indian preacher Dr Zakir Naik for allegedly calling him "the biggest enemy of Islam".
Ramasamy filed the writ of summons and his statement of claim on Nov 3 at the High Court Registry, naming Zakir as the sole defendant.
In his statement of claim, Ramasamy alleged that Zakir, or his full name Zakir Abdul Karim Naik, made defamatory statements against him in a lecture in Sokoto, Nigeria, on Nov 2.
According to Ramasamy, the recording of the lecture was uploaded by Zakir on Nov 4 on his Facebook page, which has approximately 23 million followers. It touched on the victory of his defamation lawsuit against Ramasamy and accused the defendant of labelling him as an enemy of Islam.
On Nov 2, the High Court ordered Ramasamy to pay RM1.52 million to Zakir for issuing five defamatory statements against him.
Ramasamy asserted that Zakir's allegations were false, defamatory, and made with malicious intent, capable of conveying the ordinary and natural meaning that he is a racist and anti-Islam if brought to the attention of reasonable people.
Following this, Ramasamy said Zakir made baseless and provocative statements that damaged his good name and reputation, leading to hatred, avoidance, mockery, or disdain from the public, especially Muslims.
"I did not attend the event and could not defend or respond to the allegations. The defendant is revered by Muslims worldwide as a religious figure, so the allegations are believed unquestionably by the Muslim community, especially his followers, resulting in severe condemnation and threats on social media," he said.
Ramasamy stated that despite sending a demand letter to provide an opportunity to retract the statement, Zakir failed to fulfil the terms specified in the letter or provide any explanation.
As a result, Ramasamy is demanding general, aggravated, and exemplary damages and seeks a mandatory injunction order for the defendant to retract his allegations and delete the video recordings on all of his social media platforms.
Ramasamy also demands that Zakir issue an unconditional public apology published on his Facebook account for 30 days and publish the apology in several local newspapers in Malay, English, Chinese, and Tamil.
In today's case management proceedings conducted via e-review before Senior Assistant Registrar Nur Shasha Hidayah Nor Azahar, the court ordered Zakir to file his defence statement on or before Jan 16 and set the next case management date for Feb 19.
In these proceedings, Zakir is represented by lawyer Meor Hafiz Salehan, while Shamser Singh Thind acts for Ramasamy.
