Khairy’s lawyer, Shakeel Saifuzzaman, said Judicial Commissioner Suzana Said rejected Jamal’s application on grounds that there were issues that needed to be aired in court.

“The defendant’s application to cancel the writ of summons and the plaintiff’s statement of claim was rejected by the court.

“The court also set May 27 for case management,” the lawyer said after today’s online proceedings.

On Sept 19, 2023, Jamal filed an application to dismiss the lawsuit on grounds that the claims against him were unclear, while alleging an abuse of court process.

Khairy, who filed the lawsuit on May 24, 2023, said that during the 2022 Umno general assembly on Jan 14, 2023, Jamal had uploaded a video titled “I hope Khairy Jamaluddin is disciplined by the Umno disciplinary board after making baseless and embarrassing statements about Umno #UmnoDuluKiniDanSelamanya” on his Facebook page (DS Jamal Yunos Official).

According to Khairy, the defendant also uploaded the same recording on TikTok under the name “jamal_yunos”.

Khairy claimed Jamal had implied that he was unfit to be a leader, lacked integrity, and was disloyal to Umno and party leaders.