This is not a simple case of YB Kit’s reputation being injured and he seeks legal redress to restore it. I don’t think his chances in the courts are good at all.

“Kafir” is an Islamic doctrinal concept in reference to unbelievers within an Islamic theocratic state. The label is derogatory in the Malaysian context. In the 1980s there’s much kafir mengafir exchanged between UMNO and PAS politicians with each side accusing the other as being un-Islamic. That’s between believers of Islamic faith. But if a Non Muslim were to use the term “kafir”- especially on a muslim – it is not only an inappropriate usage but one that is also insensitive and provocative in a pluralistic society. Kit’s position is that to impute falsely to him such a remark does great damage to his reputation as a responsible senior politician aware of sensitivities of a plural society.

Why I say Kit’s chances in court are not good, even if assuming courts were independent, is because no real damage to his reputation is done when Berita Harian made a one-paragraph correction that the ‘Kafir’ was incorrectly attributed to him. Besides in political contestation ala Malaysian context these accusations of kafir mengafir have been used umpteenth times before between Muslims and occasionally even by Muslims of Non Muslims of different sides of the political divide with serious legal implications and suits based on criminal defamation.

However if there were no real personal damage to reputation provable, the political damage might already have been done in Galas on polling eve with such a false imputation! One would never find out how many Malay/Muslim votes were lost to PAS’s candidate when this false imputation gave the wrong impression to Malay Muslim voters that PAS required assistance from – and its supporters cheered – a Non Muslim like Kit who allegedly irresponsibly abused an Islamic doctrinal concept like “Kafir” against a political opponent like UMNO, which is also Islamic.

So Kit/Karpal is using this wrong attribution as a means to solve more complex political problem or challenge than purely a legal address for alleged damage to his reputation, which is difficult to succeed in light of Berita Harian’s public correction. Besides arguably it was PAS’s reputation that suffered more from this false accusation than Kit’s!

The nature of the complex political problem or challenge is this: some UMNO politician makes a false accusation; it is published by mainstream pro government media; it hits its mark, voters get influenced, vote for BN’s candidate against PR’s candidate; by election is won; the people who made the false accusations with impunity to score political brownie points come out with a retraction; the media comes out with a correction – and issue settled???

It is a political strategy that is low cost to BN but it reaps maximum political returns at expense of the Opposition. Kit & Karpal probably think this got to be stopped and better way is to use the legal process and its publicity to expose the dishonesty of this strategy to voters in the coming by elections or general elections.

Continuing: It makes practical sense that one should wherever possible avoid making the tiff with media ‘personal’ (even if we know its skewed in favour of the ruling coalition for whatever reasons, whether shareholding, editorial appointments or the Printing Press Publication Act).

This is because the media has firstly, financial resources to take on any case for however long (Ask Jeff Ooi & Rocky, they know how energy sapping it is to fight NST); secondly it has reach in terms of readership to influence public opinion and thirdly it has a team of investigators and reporters to ferret out everything about its target for attack carried out in an uneven playing field. (Ask TT Durai of S’pore’s NKF saga. Durai/NKF sued Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) (Straits Times) and its reporter Suan Long for defamation. The press took it personal and went all out for Durai/NKF exposing everything from false declarations on NKF’s reserves to installation of a golden tap in Durai’s private office suite, his salary, use of company cars and first-class air travel etc until Duari was forced to resign and eventually charged in court that patronage from Mdm Tan Choo Leng, wife of Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, also could not save him).

I am not attempting here to draw any parallel between Kit/Karpal or DAP on one hand and Durai/NKF on the other in terms of vulnerabilities to exposure by Press but merely highlighting the power of the Press if it wants to turn nasty and vindictive if dispute turns from professional to personal.

So is bringing a suit against Berita Harian/NST worth the hassle and helpful to achieve the political objective as against the minimal chances of success in our courts, the implications on Alternative Media even if such a suit were successful, taking on and fighting the full resources and weight of the Media if it embarks on personal vendetta??? These are issues -pros and cons- to be weighed.