Anwar’s lawyer SN Nair said the deadline was issued to PAS’ Kuala Terengganu MP Ahmad Amzad Hashim following a case management conducted virtually on Sunday by deputy registrar Nordiana Abd Aziz.

Saiffuddin Othman appeared for the defendant.

Nair, who was assisted by Jaden Phoon and Wong Guo Jin, said Nordiana also fixed the next case management of the suit for Feb 6.

In his statement of claim, filed on Dec 22 last year, the Pakatan Harapan chairman said the MP, who contested under the PAS ticket, made several statements to patrons dining at a restaurant on Dec 7.

Anwar, who was appointed prime minister on Nov 24, claimed that the statements were also published on TikTok by a user known as “@nelly3868” later that same day.

He said the post received more than 4,980 views, 62 comments, 116 “likes”, 18 “favourite buttons” and 50 shares, and was still accessible on TikTok.

Anwar said that the statements implied, among other things, that he was untrustworthy and dishonest about receiving millions of ringgit from the Selangor government when he was its economic adviser.

He claimed it also implied that he had deceived the public by stating that he received a salary of RM1 as an economic adviser, had committed a criminal offence and betrayed the people’s mandate.

Anwar claimed that the slanderous statements were false, malicious and disparaging, adding that he was highly respected nationally and internationally as someone who opposed corruption.

“The defendant’s allegations in the defamatory statements are unfounded and I was portrayed as an ex-convict although I have been given a royal pardon,” Anwar said in his statement of claim.

Anwar said the defendant had deliberately and maliciously ignored former Selangor menteri besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim’s statement in the Selangor state assembly in 2012 that he (Anwar) had only received a symbolic sum of RM1 when acting as the state’s economic adviser.