00:00The Court of Appeal has unanimously ruled that the failure to translate allegedly defamatory
00:05English words into Bahasa Melayu does not automatically invalidate a defamation lawsuit.
00:11Justice Faiza Jamaluddin said while court pleading should generally be in the national language,
00:16the absence of a translation of the impugned words is not fatal.
00:21She said the key issue was whether the lack of translation caused prejudice or affected
00:26the proper administration of justice.
00:29The ruling came in a defamation appeal involving former TuneTalk CEO Jason Lowe, who sued the
00:36Star over articles and a Facebook post published in 2019.
00:40The court ordered the defendants to publish a full retraction of the May 16 and May 25,
00:452019 articles in the Star and the Star Online to correct the public record and vindicate
00:51Lowe's reputation.
00:52It also increased Lowe's damages from RM200,000 to RM300,000 but upheld the High Court's
00:59refusal to compel an apology.
01:01Also on the panel hearing the appeal were Justice Colin Lawrence-Sequeira, who chaired the bench,
01:07and Justice Ong Chi Kwan.
01:09Amardeep Gill, FMT.
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