The lawsuits filed separately by DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng, his father Lim Kit Siang and Seputeh MP Teresa Kok on Nov 27, were in response to Mastura’s speech while campaigning for the Kemaman by-election.

Lawyer SN Nair, who is representing all three plaintiffs, said the court also instructed them to file replies to the statement of defence by Jan 26.

“The court has set Feb 9, next year, for further case management,” he said after today’s online case management in front of senior assistant registrar Tunku Intan Nadiah Tunku Nazarin.

The three plaintiffs were also represented by lawyers Jaden Phoon and Wong Guo Jin, while lawyer Hakim Faharmi Hassan acted on behalf of Mastura.

The three plaintiffs claimed that Mastura made defamatory statements about them being related to the Communist Party and its leader Chin Peng, and also to former Singapore prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.

She was alleged to have said the DAP leaders supported, practised and spread Communist ideology and philosophy. She is alleged to have made the claims during a political talk on Nov 4.

The three politicians stressed that the defendant’s claims were baseless and false with ill-intent because she deliberately associated them with the Communist Party and Chin Peng.

“The defendant’s actions were motivated by deceit to garner publicity to boost her political party’s image,” the three plaintiffs said in their statement of claim, in which they seek general, aggravated and exemplary damages, as well as an injunction to prevent Mastura from repeating her claims.