KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 13): The hearing for Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's civil suit against Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on Tuesday before Judicial Commissioner Gan Techiong had to be deferred, as the two-time former prime minister is warded at the National Heart Institute (IJN).
This was confirmed by Mahathir’s lawyer Mior Nor Haidir Suhaimi.
“Mahathir is unwell, as he has been advised by doctors to be on medical leave. The next dates of the hearing are July 19 and several dates in August,” he added.
Initially, the trial was scheduled to begin on Tuesday and go on until Friday before Gan.
Mahathir filed the suit against Zahid in July 2022, over Zahid's comments made during an Umno divisional meeting in July 2017, and again in July 2022 describing Mahathir’s purported ancestry by calling the politician “kutty”. The comments were reproduced by several news outlets.
The two time ex-prime minister claimed that Zahid’s statement suggested that he was not born a Malay or Muslim, given his original name of “Mahathir son of Iskandar Kutty”.
Mahathir said the statements made it appear that he claimed to be Malay when he became the prime minister to gain political and personal advantage, and that he had a skewed view of the Indian community.
In his statement of defence filed through Messrs Shahrul Hamidi & Haziq, Zahid, who is also the Umno president, denied that his statements were malicious, adding that they had not affected Mahathir’s reputation.