KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 23): The High Court has dismissed Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh's libel suit against former inspector general of police Tan Sri Musa Hassan over his comments that she was trying to turn Malaysia into a “Christian nation”.

High Court Judicial Commissioner Arziah Mohamad Apandi in a decision delivered on Monday said that the Segambut Member of Parliament (MP) failed to establish essential elements in a defamatory suit and that there was no malice in Musa's statement. She awarded costs of RM40,000 to Musa.

"While open public discourse must be balanced against the protection of reputation, I find that in this case: [Yeoh] failed to prove the statements were defamatory; the occasion was privileged; no malice was proven and that [Musa] had reasonable grounds for his statements based on [Yeoh's] admissions and writings; the publication was not within [Musa's] control.

"The constitutional right to freedom of expression must be robustly protected, particularly regarding matters of public interest and statements made on privileged occasions. While responsible speech is important, public figures must expect and tolerate robust criticism and debate about their public statements and activities," the JC said.

Yeoh filed the suit against Musa in 2020, over his comments that she wrote her book 'Becoming Hannah: A Personal Journey' to turn Malaysia into a “negara Kristian (Christian nation)”, had links with evangelists and Jews to damage Islam and Malaysia, and put her personal interests above the nation's.

The comments were  made  at a forum at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) on Jan 30, 2020.

In her decision on Monday, Arziah said that Yeoh had proven that such comments would damage her reputation in a Muslim-majority country.

However, the JC ruled that Yeoh failed to show that the statements referred to her specifically. The JC also ruled that the publication of the statements was not authorised by Musa, but rather by UiTM.

"When examining the statements in their full context, most parts discussed general concerns about various groups, and only the specific mention of the book 'Becoming Hannah' referred to her. The statements were part of a broader two-hour discussion about national security issues," she said.

She added that Musa had no control over the publication of the comments and that the publication had only gained minimal traction.

Arziah also said that there was no "clear evidence of malice" as Musa based his comments on academic analysis, "spoke within the context of broader national security concerns, and had no control over the publication of his remarks".

Yeoh was represented by Ambiga Sreenevasan, Razlan Hadri Zulkifli and Lim Wei Jiet, while Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz appeared for Musa.

Lim confirmed that Yeoh will be appealing against Monday's decision.