Malang Sekali No Action Against Yeoh Ex Islamic Institute Official Testifies

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A former senior officer of Malaysia Islamic Strategic Research Institute (Iksim) testified it was “malang sekali” (unfortunate) that the authorities took no action against Hannah Yeoh over her memoir “Becoming Hannah”.
Testifying on behalf of Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) lecturer Kamarul Zaman Yusoff, Harizal Hassan told the Kuala Lumpur High Court that the youth and sports minister would have been in jail today if her memoir explicitly stated a religious agenda.
Kamarul is being sued by Segambut MP Yeoh for defamation over allegations that her memoir contained an agenda to Christianise Malaysia.
During cross-examination by Yeoh’s counsel Sangeet Kaur Deo, Harizal said while he lodged no police report over the book published in 2014, he and Iksim shared their views with the police over related issues.
‘Religious book’
Harizal agreed with Sangeet that the authorities took no action against Yeoh in spite of Iksim having shared its opinions with the police.
Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh launching the Chinese translation of ‘Becoming Hannah’ in 2021However, he disagreed with the National Library’s categorisation of the memoir as “women in politics” and “Malaysian politics” and government rather than as a religious book. 
Harizal: One has to read the book fully (to understand the context of an alleged underlying agenda to Christianise Malaysia).
Sangeet: Do you agree that the book is about her (Yeoh) personal journey as a politician?
Harizal: (It is) Coined as a personal journey but there is nothing personal as a politician.
Sangeet: A politician cannot have their own faith?
Harizal: Yes, but cannot bring their faith that goes against the Federal Constitution (on Islam being the official religion of Malaysia) and the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s decree.
Sangeet: Until now there has not been any action (by the authorities against Yeoh).
Harizal: That is what we are working towards, “malang sekali” (unfortunately).
The social media manager reiterated his belief that Yeoh would have been in jail today if she had explicitly stated a religious agenda in the book.
“If you do not propagate there would not be a problem, but if you propagate widely and you are a minister and a politician with political aspirations and that your (political) party is part of the government, then that is worrying,” lamented Harizal, referring Yeoh’s membership in DAP.
Yeoh maintained that her book is a personal biography of her journey into politics with no agenda to convert Muslims to Christianity.
Sangeet: You agree that in our country, the prime ministers, the home ministers and the inspector-generals of police all have been Muslims (since the book’s publication in 2014)?
Harizal: Agreed.
Sangeet: This book did not become a problem for them as it was not banned? 
Harizal: I disagree.
When Sangeet grilled the witness on his qualifications, Harizal emphasised that he via Iksim worked closely with not only the police but also involved directly with ministers to table papers with the Muzakarah Committee of the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs (MKI) and the Rulers Council.
Lawyer Sangeet Kaur DeoHarizal’s testimony is in the context of being one of Kamarul’s friends who expressed dissatisfaction about Yeoh’s book to the academic.
The trial before judge Aliza Sulaiman concluded this afternoon, with a decision set on May 30.
‘Christian agenda’
Filed in February 2022, Yeoh’s suit is over Kamarul’s two Facebook posts dated May 10 and 17, 2017.
Incidentally, on May 17, 2017, Kamarul also lodged a police report against Yeoh over her book.
He accused Yeoh, who was then the Selangor state assembly speaker, of alleged proselytisation, claiming she was driving a “Christian agenda”.
The first Facebook post was titled “Hannah Yeoh contoh hipokrasi terbesar DAP”, while the second one was “Laporan polis saya terhadap Hannah Yeoh”.
Yeoh claimed that the two Facebook posts were very irresponsible, scandalous, vile, and intentionally published by Kamarul to inflame hatred and anger against her.
She contended that he had abused his position as an academic to issue politically driven statements against her.
UUM academic Kamarul Zaman YusoffThrough the writ of summons against Kamarul, Yeoh is seeking general, aggravated, and exemplary damages.
She seeks for the lecturer to make an unconditional public retraction of the alleged defamatory statements and an apology.
She also wants a court injunction to prevent him from further publishing any defamatory statements against her.
However, in his statement of defence, Kamarul raised the defence of justification.
Under Malaysian law for civil action, justification is a defence that the statements or allegations are true, and if proven successful in court, this would act as an absolute defence against the related lawsuit.
Kamarul also denied his two Facebook posts were defamatory against Yeoh, further dismissing her claim that they were politically motivated.
Previously, Kamarul also sued Yeoh for defamation over her Facebook post. However, he withdrew the civil action.
Lawyer Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz acted for Kamarul. - Mkini

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