KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here today ordered British author Michael Backman to pay a total of RM1.2 million in damages to former banker and The Edge Media Group chairman Tan Sri Tong Kooi Ong for defamation in the book entitled “Daim Zainuddin: Malaysia’s Revolutionary and Troubleshooter”.
Judicial Commissioner Roz Mawar Rozain ordered Backman as the defendant to pay RM600,000 for general damages and another RM600,000 for aggravated damages.
She said the damages were awarded for causing immeasurable harm by defamation which the court could only compensate.
“The court considers the standing of the plaintiff (Tong) in the business realm which encompasses not only Malaysia, but regionally and worldwide. Given such allegations which obviously defamed him on a worldwide level, RM600,000 as general damages is reasonable,“ she said.
Roz Mawar further said, as to aggravated damages, the defendant had refused to enter an appearance and defend the suit on the premise that he does not fall within the jurisdiction.
“This was even though the damage was caused to a Malaysian citizen and damage was suffered here, where the cause of action arose in Malaysia. This amounts to conduct that warrants aggravated damages. Therefore, the court grants RM600,000 as aggravated damages,“ she added.
The court also ordered Backman to pay RM100,000 in costs to Tong and granted a prohibitory injunction against Backman from repeating the defamatory posts in his book that defamed the plaintiff.
In March, a judgment in default was entered against Backman following his non-appearance in court proceedings.
Counsel K. Shanmuga represented Tong.
On Sept 28, 2022, Tong, 64, filed a suit against Backman over the publication of the book entitled “Daim Zainuddin: Malaysia’s Revolutionary and Troubleshooter”, which he perceived to be a ‘hagiographic biography’ of Malaysia’s former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin.
According to the plaintiff, in 2018, the defendant, by his publisher River Books Co. Ltd in Thailand, printed and published the book, and the book was available for sale throughout the world, including in the United Kingdom and Malaysia.
The plaintiff contended that the defendant recklessly or maliciously published the impugned words in a manner calculated in the ordinary cause of things to injure the plaintiff and to cause him to suffer damage in his business.
The plaintiff claimed that the defendant chose to publish the impugned words in order to embellish and exaggerate the reputation of Tun Daim at the expense of the plaintiff’s reputation besides publishing the impugned words in a sensationalised manner with a view to gaining a pecuniary advantage for the defendant in terms of increasing sales of the book. – Bernama
