March 7 decision on bid to compel naming of source

The Kuala Lumpur High Court will decide on March 7 on whether journalist Joseph Sipalan would be required to reveal his source over a civil dispute between BN Backbenchers Club president Tiong King Sing and former MCA president Ong Tee Keat, regarding the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project.

Lawyers from Tiong and Ong, along with Joseph’s lawyer Bhag Singh, had met Justice Lau Bee Lan in chambers for this purpose.

Joseph, 32, who had written the article titled ‘Chua and Tiong in cahoots?’ while he was with the New Straits Times, is now working with The Star.

The article was published on Sept 6, 2009, after he interviewed seven to eight MCA central committee and state committee members who wished to remain anonymous.

Tiong was represented by lawyer Prem Ramachandran, while Chan Tze Yuen appeared for Ong, who is also Pandan MP.

Justice Lau fixed the date after agreeing to fix seven days from today for Joseph to file his written reply to the application made by Tiong’s lawyers to force the journalist to reveal his source.

Tiong’s lawyers made a formal application on Feb 15 for Joseph to reveal this in court.

This is probably the first time in Malaysia’s legal history where a journalist was required by a lawyer in a civil court case to reveal the name of his source.

Prem cited Section 142 of the Evidence Act and said the witness must answer in court, that the witness must answer even if the testimony would incriminate him under Section 132.

Joseph had cited journalism ethics and confidentiality in not revealing the source of his report.

Tiong bankrolled move to topple Ong?

It was reported that on Sept 6, 2009, New Straits Times published an article which quoted sources as saying that Ong had alleged both Tiong and MCA president Chua Soi Lek were conspiring to topple him by amassing a RM100 million war chest to mobilise their campaign against Ong.    

The article also suggests that the then-Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd chief executive officer wanted to sweep the on-going PKFZ scandal under the carpet.

Tiong had filed a defamation suit in October 2009 following the publication of the article in the New Straits Times, where he named The New Straits Times Press (M) Berhad, its then group editor Syed Nadzri Syed Harun, the writer, and Ong as the parties involved.

Tiong seeks an undetermined amount of compensation and an apology from Ong, although he later dropped his demands againstNew Straits Times, its group editor and writer.

Even though the article had not directly quoted Ong in uttering the allegation, Tiong said that Ong’s silence amounted to admission.

Ong only said that the contents of the article weren’t defamatory after he issued the former MCA chief a legal letter dated Oct 1, 2009, Tiong added.

“The allegations in the article are of the worst kind. It gives the impression to the public at large that I am guilty of a criminal conspiracy.
    
“It also suggests that I was actively buying votes within the MCA to cover up a scandal,” Tiong said in his written witness statement.