Saturday February 25, 2012

No malice against Syabas, says Pua

KUALA LUMPUR: Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua maintained in a High Court that his statements against Syabas would not damage the water concessionaire's reputation as it had a monopoly on the state's water supply.

“Syabas is the sole provider and supplier of water in the concession area. Therefore, they would receive payment for water supply regardless of if comments were made about its business efficiency,” said Pua.

He claimed to have no malice against Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas), having never had personal dealings with the company.

“Apart from receiving my water supply from Syabas, I don't have any other dealings with the company and its executive chairman,” explained Pua.

In the lawsuit filed on Jan 28, Syabas claimed that Pua had permitted Nanyang Siang Pau's Metro edition to publish words defamatory of it in an article on Nov 16 last year entitled “Tony Pua: Selangor Government must have water rights to prevent rate hike.”

In the statement of claim, Syabas said the words meant that it was incompetent in managing water supply rights given its inability to repay its debts and to replace water pipes.

Syabas chief executive officer Datuk Ruslan Hassan testified on 29, Nov 2011 that defamation action was taken against Pua after he consulted with his chief operating officer Datuk Lee Miang Koi and read the gist of the Nov 16 article's translation.

In his testimony yesterday, Pua denied the allegations, saying it was a matter of public interest and had been the subject of “immense” public discourse since 2005.

“It is highly unlikely for an article which talks about a matter of public interest to be actuated by malice,” said Pua.

He added that the suit had caused him “unnecessary harassment and stress” and could affect his position as a member of parliament.

High Court judge Justice Amelia Tee Hong Geok Abdullah set March 23 for the next submission.

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