Clearly related to Guan Eng’s release on Wednesday, DAP lawyers were this morning served with the notice of an application by former Malacca Chief Minister, Tan Sri Rahim Tamby Cik, that he is applying for an interim injunction in the Kuala Lumpur High Court tomorrow for a blanket ban on the DAP from making any statement, speech or reference to the scandal of the 14-year-old girl - including the Internet.
In a defamation suit filed against the DAP, Dr. Chen Man Hin as DAP Chairman and myself as DAP Secretary-General, Rahim alleged that he had been defamed by the DAP’s "Support, Sympathy and Solidarity (SSS) with Lim Guan Eng" campaign posters and the book "Lim Guan Eng - MP in Jail - Second Edition: Malaysian Dream from Kajang Prison".
Rahim claimed that the SSS posters and the book are defamatory in meaning
that he
Rahim also alleged that the articles, statements and remarks made by various personalities, mass media and organisations published in the book, whether by Dr. Chen Man Hin, Guan Eng himself, Betty Chew or myself as well as those by Dr. Chandra Muzaffar, Professor Jomo KS, Raja Aziz Addruse, Tun Mohamed Suffian, Dato Param Cumaraswamy, Ramdas Tikamdas, P. Ramakrishnan, Rasamah Bhupalan, Zainur Zakaria, Mehrun Siraj, Cecil Rajendra, Yang Pei Keng, Rustam Sani, Gan Teik Chee, Sivarasa Rasiah, Aliran, Suaram, Inter-Parliamentary Union, International Herald Tribune, Financial Times, Nikkei Weekly, are defamatory.
Rahim’s application for a blanket ban against the DAP on any reference on the scandal of the 14-year-old girl is most unprecedented, covering all speeches, writings and even references - including the Internet.
If such an interim injunction is allowed, there would be far-reaching implications as DAP MPs who want to raise the issue of the scandal of the 14-year-old girl in Parliament and DAP leaders who want to question the decision of the Attorney-General not prosecuting Rahim Tamby Cik for statutory rape of the 14-year-old girl would be barred.
(23/8/99)