KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has fixed Jan 24 for decision on a defamation suit by Shah Alam MP Khalid Abdul Samad against Datuk Dr Hassan Mohamed Ali relating to the issue of liquor sales, existence of gambling centres and massage parlours in Selangor in 2012.
Judge Datuk Hue Siew Kheng set the date after hearing submissions from Khalid's lawyer, Muhammad Faiz Fadzil today.
However, Hassan, who was unrepresented, chose not to enter his submissions.
On Tuesday, Khalid who was the plaintiff in the suit and two others, read out their witness statement while Hassan refused to give his.
Khalid who is currently the Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) committee member, filed the suit claiming that Hassan, who was the then Selangor state government executive councilor, had uttered defamatory words in his talk at the Rukun Tetangga Hall, Section 17, Shah Alam in 2012.
He alleged that the video speech was later edited and uploaded to the YouTube social media site that could be accessed openly by the public and that the words uttered by Hassan was unfounded, not true and slanderous which affected his reputation, image and good name, when he was then the PAS Central committee member.
Hassan who was former Selangor Pas commissioner in his statement of defence, claimed the words that he said was a common phenomenon in the political scenario in Malaysia, namely the parties criticising each other for the sake of their own political interests.
However, on Dec 16, last year, the court struck out Hassan's statement of defence after finding that he failed to comply with the filing instructions for trial.