My comment about Chow
fair as ‘CAT went missing’,
says businessman
Tan Kok Ping says Chow Kon Yeow failed to uphold the Penang government’s ‘competency, accountability and transparency’ principles in the Umech land deal.
at a press conference held last year on the sale of a plot of industrial land in Batu Kawan.incompetent, ignorant and shameless
Instead, Tan said the remarks were fair comment, given that the land was sold below its market value and the Batu Kawan Industrial Park 2 (BKIP2) was awarded to a company without a sufficient financial standing.
Chow is suing Tan over the remarks, saying they injured his reputation both in his official and personal capacities. He claimed Tan’s statement implied he was incompetent, unfit and unqualified to be chief minister.
“This company with a RM10 million paid up capital wants to do a RM10 billion (gross development value) project, with no open tender (conducted). That is why we spoke out.
Tan said via a Mandarin interpreter.(Chow) claims to advocate the CAT principles (competency, accountability and transparency) (but) this CAT has gone missing,
Tan, who is also the Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce (PCCC) honorary life president, defended his decision to hold a press conference to call out the chief minister.
He said the PCCC had followed The Edge’s reporting into the land deal and had taken note of alleged
given by Chow when questioned over the matter.non-answers
Cross-examined by lawyer Simon Murali, representing Chow, Tan denied that his actions were motivated by malice.
Simon had claimed The Edge’s reporting was published on the same day the land sale was called off, and said it was largely premised on hearsay.
In response, Tan said The Edge was a widely read publication and that the press conference was warranted as the PCCC felt it necessary to correct a misstep by the state government.
Tan also denied Simon’s suggestion that his use of the Mandarin term
(meaningwu chǐ
) to describe Chow was offensive as it carried a deep insult and was doubly offensive when directed at someone in a position of authority.shameless
In his testimony earlier, Chow had told the court that
was rarely used by the Chinese community and, when directed at someone, suggests deep hatred and enmity.wu chi
Chow had testified.For the Chinese and as a Chinese myself, such a word is used to humiliate and insult someone in the worst possible way – to shame them to death,
I’m not bitter, says ex-deputy CM
Former Penang deputy chief minister II P Ramasamy, who sat on the Penang Development Corporation’s (PDC) board when in office, also took the stand as a defence witness.
He denied that the land sale was cleared by a sub-committee of the PDC.
“No way the sub-committee agreed to sell it to Umech Construction or Umech Land.
he said when cross-examined by Simon.PDC was not prepared to sell the land as there was no information from the due diligence exercise given to them. It was never endorsed in the board meeting and no decision was made to sell the land,
Ramasamy said Chow’s claim that the deal had gone through the scrutiny of the sub-committee was a
.total misrepresentation
He also denied that his evidence was influenced by bitterness over DAP’s decision to drop him as a candidate for the Penang state elections last year.
“My dream was to start an alternative party. I am not against DAP but I was against the direction it was taking. And in this land deal, too.
he said.I have nothing to be bitter about against anyone, including Chow, we had a good working relationship,
Justice Quay Chew Soon will hear closing submissions on Oct 15 and will deliver his decision by Dec 3.
Tan was represented by K Kirubakaran, Kek Boon Wei and Lee Wen Qian, while Kok Yuen Lin also appeared for Chow.
Expressing an opinion is not defamation.
ReplyDeleteStating as fact information which is untrue, which damages the reputation of the person...yes, that can be defamation.
Up to the Court to decide which is which.