“Likening a person to ‘satan’ is a vile action, unreasonable, unjustifiable and should not be made,” the controversial Islamic preacher said in his witness’ statement.
Naik said P Ramasamy, Penang deputy chief minister II, had openly created hatred towards him by calling him “satan”.
“The word ‘satan’ is not a fair comment. I state here that I had not once mocked or belittled other religions,” he said.
Naik said Ramasamy had interpreted a talk he had given in Kuala Terengganu five years ago out of context and had purposely quoted him in a misleading manner.
“The defendant did not understand the meaning of my talk because he did not even listen to the whole talk, he only quoted part of the talk and made the wrong conclusion, thus slandering me,” he said.
Naik said he spoke about the quality and strengths of Islam, and that he consistently highlighted the similarities between different religions.
“Therefore, I believe that the defence put forward by the defendant is untenable,” he said
Naik said it was true Ramasamy later removed the word “satan” from the defamatory statement on his Facebook page but by then it had spread on the internet and had been read by many Malaysians.
He said the removal came too late and did not carry any meaning.
Naik said Ramasamy’s reliance on the defence of justification, fair comment and qualified privilege could not be accepted as the five defamatory statements were actuated by malice.
In October and December 2019, Naik filed two separate suits alleging that Ramasamy had issued five statements against him.
He sued Ramasamy for allegedly issuing the statements, uploaded on social media sites and news portals, between 2016 and 2019.
In his statement of claim, he alleged that Ramasamy had defamed him on April 10, 2016, by calling him “satan” on his Facebook page.
He also claimed that he was defamed in a statement issued by Ramasamy that Malaysia was harbouring an alleged fugitive from India, which was published by Free Malaysia Today (FMT) on Oct 1, 2017.
Naik claimed that on Aug 11, 2019, Ramasamy had “manipulated” a speech he had made at an event organised by the Kelantan government, and which was also published by FMT the same day.
On Aug 20, 2019, he claimed, Ramasamy again defamed him in a statement laced with hatred and spite that was published by India Today.
Naik filed his second suit against Ramasamy in December 2019, alleging that the defendant had defamed him in making comments about the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and which were carried by The Malaysian Insight portal.
Hearing before Justice Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz continues.