The Malaysian Insider apologises in Khalid Ibrahim defamation case

KUALA LUMPUR: The defamation suit filed by former Selangor mentri besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim against The Malaysian Insider has been settled with the latter apologising and expressing regret over the posting of articles pertaining to the post of Selangor Mentri Besar.
The open apology was tendered by former TMI chief executive officer Jahabar Sadiq Abdul Kader and the portal's Malay Language editor Amin Shah Iskandar before High Court Judge Datuk Nor Bee Ariffin.
"I, Jahabar Sadiq Abdul Kader, as the first defendant in this lawsuit and, at the material time, the CEO and editor of the website, www.themalaysianinsider.com, hereby apologise on my behalf and other defendants, namely Amin Shah Iskandar and Edge Insider Sdn Bhd," said Jahabar Sadiq.
He admitted the article posted on July 24, 2014, with the title "Going by Selangor Ruler's Criteria, Khalid Should Quit as MB" and the Malay version "Berasaskan kriteria Sultan Selangor, Khalid wajar berundur sebagai MB" had given TMI readers and Malaysians the impression that Abdul Khalid should step down as Selangor mentri besar (then).
The article, he said, also implied Abdul Khalid was a person who could not be trusted, dishonest, insincere, with no principles, corrupt and an Umno middleman to make an out-of-court settlement of a case involving Bank Islam against him.
"We accept the fact that the first and second articles were defamatory in nature and hurt Abdul Khalid's feelings as well as injured his reputation as mentri besar, Bandar Tun Razak MP, Port Klang state assemblyman and in his personal capacity.
"Realising this, we, hereby retract the first and second articles. We also, unreservedly express regret and sincerely apologise to Abdul Khalid," he said.
Jahabar Sadiq said that though TMI was now closed and no longer operating since March 14, 2016, they retracted both articles and all their contents, and the readers' comments.
They promised, either personally or through their agents, representatives, workers or staff to not repeat or cause the articles to be published again, following which the court dismissed the suit and thanked the plaintiff and defendants for having agreed to resolve the case with no cost. — Bernama