KUALA LUMPUR: Former Penang deputy chief minister P. Ramasamy will apply for a stay of execution on a High Court decision ordering him to pay RM1.52 million to controversial preacher Dr Zakir Naik for defaming the latter.
He said the application for the stay would be made pending an appeal to the Court of Appeal.
In the meantime, Ramasamy took to Facebook to launch a crowdfunding campaign for the money he needs to pay to Zakir.
The senior politician said he would maintain transparency regarding the funds collected and gave his assurances that any surplus would be utilised for the public's benefit.
Earlier, High Court judge Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz handed out the order after Zakir managed to discharge his burden of providing the tort of defamation for all five impugned statements.
She said Ramasamy's defence was without merit.
The judge said the defence statements were undoubtedly defamatory and were actuated by malice and anger towards Zakir.
She said the impugned statements were personal attacks angled to disparage, ridicule and lower Zakir in the eyes of the general public.
The preacher, in October 2019, filed a lawsuit against Ramasamy over four of the politician's statements that were alleged to be defamatory. The statements were issued between 2016 and 2019.
Zakir, in his suit, claimed that Ramasamy made the first defamatory statement via a Facebook post on April 10, 2015.
The second was in the form of an article titled "Is Malaysia harbouring alleged fugitive Zakir Naik?" which was published by an online news portal on Oct 1, 2017.
The third defamatory statement was made on Aug 11, 2019, through the article titled, "Naik should not question loyalty of Hindus in Malaysia", which was also carried by the online news portal.
Ramasamy is also alleged to have defamed Zakir through a video interview on Aug 20, which was given to India-based media platform, India Today.
Zakir then filed a second suit against Ramasamy, in December 2019, where he alleged the defendant's remarks about the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had defamed him.