KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 26): The High Court here today dismissed an application by former inspector general of police Tan Sri Musa Hassan to strike out a defamation suit filed by Segambut MP and former women, family and community development deputy minister Hannah Yeoh.

The decision was made by Justice Datuk Rozana Ali Yusoff, who ordered the former IGP to pay RM3,000 costs. 

Yeoh had, in July last year, filed the defamation suit against Musa for remarks he made against her in a forum in January 2020, which included allegations that she had written her book “Becoming Hannah” to turn Malaysia into a Christian nation. 

The Segambut MP claimed Musa's speech at a UiTM forum in January last year was defamatory, wholly untrue, disparaging, vexatious, spurious, fallacious and without basis.

She alleged Musa's speech was premeditated, made in bad faith, and actuated by malice, to tarnish, malign, injure and destroy her reputation in the eyes of the public. In her suit, she sought general, aggravated and exemplary damages.

In response, Musa applied to strike out the suit, citing it had no reasonable cause of action, was frivolous and was an abuse of the court’s process. His application was supported by an affidavit affirmed by Universiti Utara Malaysia's Dr Kamarul Zaman Yusoff. 

Yeoh was represented by Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and Lim Wei Jiet, while Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz and Muhammad Afiq Qiwamuddin appeared for Musa.

Following today's decision, Justice Rozana fixed April 2 for case management.