Lawyer Guok Ngek Seong, who represented Kepong MP and Kuala Lumpur DAP secretary Lim Lip Eng, said an application for an enlarged bench was allowed due to the issue of public importance.
“A remote hearing took place on Nov 4 before a three-member bench but was adjourned after an application was made for a bigger panel,” Guok told FMT after case management before deputy registrar Azniza Mohd Ali.
The hearing has been fixed for March 4.
Lawyer Gopal Sri Ram, who had appeared for Lim on Nov 4, said an enlarged bench was necessary as a previous Federal Court decision by a five-member panel that the government could sue individuals for defamation needed to be revisited.
On March 12, the apex court granted Lim leave to appeal by allowing a legal question of whether a political party has the capacity to maintain a defamation action in light of the decision of Goldsmith v Bhoyrul.
In July 2017, then MCA secretary-general Ong Ka Chuan had filed the suit against Lim over remarks made at a press conference held at the Parliament building on March 15, 2016.
Ong said Lim’s remarks had seriously injured MCA’s reputation, adding that it was seeking RM100 million in general and exemplary damages.
Lim had referred to information from his sources alleging that MCA had never used its own funds to give allocations to Chinese schools, and that the party had instead allegedly pocketed public funds.
On Feb 27, 2018, the High Court refused Lim’s application to strike out the defamation suit by MCA.
Lim’s appeal to the Court of Appeal last year was also dismissed on grounds there were issues to be tried before the High Court.
Sri Ram, who argued to obtain leave, had submitted that political parties registered under the Societies Act could not file defamation suits because they have no reputation, unlike an individual.
“They can only sue and be sued for other civil actions,” he said.
Lawyer Ang Boon Heng, who appeared for Ong, said the law was settled following a Federal Court ruling two years ago that governments could sue citizens for defamation.
He said a five-member panel had also refused to accept the common law Derbyshire principle that public authorities cannot bring an action against a person for lowering their reputation.
That controversial ruling came about when the Sarawak government filed a defamation suit against state opposition leader Chong Chieng Jen in 2013 after he alleged that RM11 billion had “disappeared into a black hole”.
His statement was published in a Chinese national daily and a news portal, as well as in pamphlets distributed by Chong and the DAP.