COMMENT | Why the peculiar facts in Guan Eng's case entitled him to sue Perkasa

COMMENT | I refer to the commentary in Malaysiakini dated March 1, 2021, titled “Why Guan Eng shouldn’t have been allowed to sue Perkasa” (‘the said article’) and feel various issues raised therein necessitate a response which I shall attempt here.

The authors of the said article essentially argue that public officials “ought to be held to a different standard when it comes to defamation suits due to their privileged positions in relation to the public”.

It is in this light that the said authors took the view that “…it has been established in several jurisdictions that public officials should be treated differently when they are criticised in their official capacities. After all, having been elected to serve the public, allowing them to sue that same public for defamation due to criticisms about how they do their job seems counterproductive, to say the least”.

I agree completely that the public ought to be free to criticise public officials about how they do their job without fear of any repercussions...