Lawyers: Suits stifle Malaysian media

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Multi-million-dollar defamation suits are stifling the media and free speech in Malaysia, says a report by the country's lawyers.

"In Malaysia ... the media is facing the brunt of defamation suits from all and sundry, including the 'wielders of power', and the damages awarded have been huge," says the report by the Bar Council of Malaysia.

"The threat of defamation suits and huge awards should not be used to stifle a free and informed media from existing or emerging in the country," adds the report, of which copy was obtained by Reuters on Friday.

The report, titled 'Effects of defamation laws on free speech', counts 73 examples of defamation suits asking more than one million ringgit ($263,000) in damages.

Awards made in some of those cases by the country's courts are the highest in the Commonwealth and possibly the world, it says.

Since a landmark 1995 case, suits by politicians, businessmen and other prominent figures against local media have demanded up to hundreds of millions of dollars, says the report by the Bar Council of Malaysia.

In 1995 the High Court awarded businessman Vincent Tan $2.63 million in damages from several defendants, including journalist M.G.G. Pillai who was ordered to pay $526,316.

Pillai is appealing that decision.

Last year seven multi-million-dollar suits were launched against the media, including one against seven outlets for a total of $341.1 million.

In contrast, awards made for severe injury rarely exceed $26,000, showing that "under the present law the loss of a limb or the loss of a man's quality of life is worth much less than a slight to one's reputation," says the document.

Damage cap

The 12-page report suggests the judiciary should reverse the trend by reducing awards and costs. Failing that, the government should make changes in the laws on defamation.

Those could include a cap on damages and a 'right to reply', where media could be ordered to make a retraction.

"The judiciary should maintain a proper balance between freedom of speech and a public figure's right to his reputation," the report says.

The mainstream Malaysian media seldom criticizes the government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Publications are required to apply annually for a government publishing license. Twice in recent years local journalists have asked Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, deputy premier and minister of home affairs, to scrap the requirement but he has yet to act.

The Bar Council report follows a memorandum submitted to the government last month by the Kuala Lumpur Bar Committee that highlighted "harsh examples of abuse, incompetence and corruption" in Malaysia's justice system.

The bar committee in Kuala Lumpur represents about half of the country's nearly 10,000 lawyers, all of whom belong to the Bar Council.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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