KUALA LUMPUR: Sued for defamation by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak over comments on strategic investment fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), DAP lawmaker Tony Pua said in his defence that he has a duty as the people’s representative to raise issues of public interest.

“It is my legal, social and moral duty to raise issues of public interest,” said Pua, citing qualified privilege as one of his grounds of defence in response to Najib’s suit.

The opposition party’s national publicity chief and Petaling Jaya Utara Member of Parliament (MP) filed his court papers on Monday and a copy has been served on Messrs Hafarizam Wan & Aisha Mubarak, the solicitors for Najib. Pua also said that the public has the right to receive information on issues that affect them.

“As an MP, I made a fair comment on a matter of public interest based on verified information and facts,” he said in court documents sighted by The Malaysian Insider.

In his response to the first case of a prime minister suing a lawmaker for defamation in Malaysia, Pua is also relying on the defence of justification and said the information revealed to the public on 1MDB was true.

In the 23-page document of defence, Pua also questioned Najib’s standing to file the suit since he is Pekan MP, prime minister and finance minister.

“His conduct should be subjected to criticism when he is holding public positions,” he said.

Another defendant in the suit, Chan Chee Keong, represented by Raul Lee Bhaskaran, filed his defence on March 31.

The suit will be heard before Judge Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera.

Najib filed the suit on March 6 at the Kuala Lumpur High Court registry in relation to Pua’s speech at a DAP fundraising dinner held on Nov 3 last year.

In the suit, Najib also named Chan, the MediaRakyat portal owner, as second defendant. Najib said that the recording of the speech which was uploaded by Chan or his agents onto MediaRakyat’s YouTube and Facebook page, was later republished by Pua on his Facebook page.

Najib is seeking an apology, a retraction of the statement and damages. He is also seeking an injunction to restrain Pua from further publishing any defamatory statements about him.

Najib had earlier sent a letter of demand to Pua to apologise within 14 days in two national newspapers, or face legal action over the speech titled “Tony Pua: Najib is creating the biggest scandal ever in the history of Malaysia”.

According to a transcript in the letter, Pua had said: “Let me tell you, this is the problem with Barisan Nasional. No one dares to stand up to the prime minister, and Najib now is like a king. A king that is creating the biggest scandal ever in the history of Malaysia. Huge! No one dares to say a thing, nothing, not even the pin drop from any MCA or Gerakan leader or even Umno leaders ...

“It is disgraceful, it is scandalous for a 100% Ministry of Finance-owned entity with the board of advisers chaired by the prime minister himself not being able to submit accounts on time, especially when the company is so big, when the public looks at it with great interest (RM) 36 billion in debt they are not able to submit their accounts on time …

“There is only one reason why I think can. The reason why can is because all these MCA, MIC, Gerakan ‘kakis’ all don’t dare to challenge their prime minister, all say okay, okay thank you, please carry on and rob the people’s money.” — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on April 17, 2015.