KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has given Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd two weeks to work out a settlement on damages to be paid to the opposition leader who won a defamation suit two years ago against the newspaper.

Judge Hue Siew Kheng told lawyers for both parties to determine the quantum of damages without court interference following a meeting with lawyers from both sides in her chambers yesterday.

Lawyer Shahid Adli Kamarudin, who represented Anwar, said the judge had fixed Feb 9 to find out if the parties could come to an amicable settlement. “The judge wants us to consider a settlement over quantum of damages without having it assessed by court officials,” he said.

In January 2013, the then High Court judge Datuk VT Singham found Utusan Malaysia liable for defaming Anwar in two articles following his comments to the BBC during an interview on homosexuality laws. The Court of Appeal also dismissed Utusan’s appeal against Singham’s finding of liability.

However, it filed an application to reduce the quantum of damages to be paid to Anwar, saying that the Permatang Pauh MP was of bad character based on his recent sodomy conviction, which it said removed the grounds for evaluating his character for damages.

Hue had dismissed Utusan’s application on Aug 13 last year on the grounds that it was filed late and was highly prejudicial to Anwar.

The Court of Appeal, however, set April 7 to hear the appeal by Utusan over the dismissal of its application.

In his defamation suit, Anwar named Utusan Melayu and its editor-in-chief Datuk Abdul Aziz Ishak as defendants.

Singham, who has since retired, ordered the defendants to pay RM45,000 in costs to Anwar but for damages to be assessed by a court registrar. The trial judge said the newspaper had “distorted” the opposition leader’s words to suggest he backed the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) movement.

Singham also said the daily did not practise responsible journalism, in addition to disregarding a golden opportunity to correct itself after Anwar sent a legal notice asking for clarification.

“The articles ... are a rather distorted and incorrect version, and obviously taken out of context,” Singham said in his judgment.

“The articles have a purpose of their own ... to give rise to a defamatory imputation that the plaintiff is condoning LGBT activities to be legalised, which is not true under the circumstances.”

The judge said it was “crystal clear” that Anwar did not say that LGBT activities should be legalised in his BBC interview, and the Utusan articles had suggested that Anwar was unfit to hold public office and be the opposition leader.

Anwar filed the defamation suit in January 2012, seeking RM50 million in damages and an injunction to stop Utusan and its editor-in-chief from repeating statements accusing him of being a gay rights proponent.

At a hearing on July 18, Anwar told the court it was “public knowledge” that Utusan was Umno-owned.

He also agreed then that homosexuals should be discriminated against to protect the sanctity of marriage, but pointed out that archaic laws should be reviewed to prevent innocent people from being punished. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 27, 2015.