Ismail is suing Agenda Daily for its article titled “Ismail Sabri bimbang jadi PM paling singkat, ‘rayu’ jangan tarik sokongan” (“Ismail Sabri concerned about being PM with the shortest term, begs not to pull out support”), that implied he had begged his Perikatan Nasional (PN) allies for their continued support.

“This means Agenda Daily has to remove the postings immediately,” Ismail’s lawyer, Joshua Tan said.

Tan said the order was granted by judicial commissioner Evrol Mariette Peters this afternoon and will remain in force for the next 21 days.

He added that an inter-parte hearing had been fixed on March 4.

Ismail, who is suing in his personal capacity, named Izwan Mohd Zubit as the defendant, being the owner of Agenda Daily Media Enterprise, a business enterprise that operates the news portal.

In the statement of claim sighted by FMT, Ismail who is also an Umno vice-president and Bera MP said the posting in its ordinary meaning and by inference states that he was concerned about becoming the shortest prime minister in Malaysian history.

He said it was also implied that he was desperate to hold that office at all cost and was willing to beg (“rayu”) a certain political party not to withdraw support for him.

He added that the posting also gave the impression that he was concerned only about his position and not that of the people.

Ismail was appointed prime minister on Aug 20 after 114 of the 220 MPs in the Dewan Rakyat expressed support for him.

He is seeking a permanent injunction, damages and an apology to be published in Agenda Daily and two other local papers.

On Jan 31, an aide to Ismail lodged a police report against three websites over the reports, saying they were “fake news filled with unverified claims”.

They were Agenda Daily and two blogs, The Malaysia Life and Dialog Rakyat which reposted the article.

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