KUALA LUMPUR (July 19): Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was advised by Judicial Commissioner Gan Techiong not to go overseas so that his civil suit against Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi can commence.
The suit, which was brought by Mahathir over Zahid’s comments in 2022 about the origins of Mahathir’s ancestry, had to be postponed again, as the former PM’s lawyer Mior Nor Haidir Suhaimi informed the court on Friday that his client has been admitted to the National Heart Institute (IJN) for a cough.
“Dr Mahathir came back from London on Sunday and on Monday went to IJN with a cough and was warded,” he told the judicial commissioner and presented the court with a letter from IJN.
While Gan was sympathetic towards Mahathir’s health issues, he stressed the need to proceed with the trial as soon as possible as it has been pending since 2022.
“This case has been pending since 2022, other dates set for this trial are Aug 26 and 27. We hope he would recover quickly.
“With all due respect, maybe you could advise him not to go overseas. We cannot keep adjourning for the same health reasons or for any reason,” Gan told Mior.
The judicial commissioner then said that ideally on Aug 26, Mahathir should be the first to testify, failing which his son Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir would be the first to take the stand.
The case had already been delayed twice before: once in November 2023 as the then judge for this matter, Rozana Ali Yusoff, was transferred to the Penang High Court, and Gan was appointed as her replacement.
The case was then slated to commence on Feb 13 this year but was adjourned until Friday as Dr Mahathir was unwell and on medical leave during that time.
Mahathir filed the suit against Zahid in July 2022 over comments Zahid 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 Umno president, denied that his statements were malicious, adding that they had not affected Mahathir’s reputation.
In this same court, Gan will also be hearing Zahid’s suit against Mahathir.
In this suit, Zahid is refuting Mahathir’s claims during the Johor state election in February 2022 that Zahid met him in 2018 and 2019 to discuss Zahid’s criminal case. Zahid has denied the claim.
Mahathir had said in his statement of defence that the Umno president had met him on June 6 and Sept 13, 2018, at the Perdana Leadership Foundation, and then on Feb 23 and Feb 24, 2020 at Mahathir’s residence at the Mines Resort, and again on Feb 25, 2020 at the Prime Minister’s Office.
Zahid, in reply to Mahathir’s defence, denied that he met the veteran politician to discuss his criminal case in June 2018, as he had not been charged or investigated yet. Zahid added that the meetings in June 2018 and after were related to Umno, the party that Mahathir served as president from 1982 to 2004.
Zahid questioned how he could have discussed his court case in front of other senior Umno leaders who accompanied him when he had yet to be investigated or charged at the time.