TEACHER FILES RM6 MLN SUIT OVER FACEBOOK ARTICLES

FILING….Salleh after filing the suit at the High Court on Friday.

By : KELIMEN SAWATAN

A SECONDARY school teacher yesterday filed a RM6 million suit at the High Court here against a professor, two teachers and an assistant manager over allegedly defamatory Facebook articles.

Salleh Berindi Hj Othman, 37, who teaches at SMK Inanam, is seeking RM2 million damages each from the first and second defendants (the professor and one of the teachers), and RM1 million damages each from the third and fourth defendants (the other teacher and assistant manager).

He is also seeking an injunction to stop and prevent the defendants from repeating and republishing the same or similar defamatory words, costs and other reliefs the court deems just and fit.

In his statement of claim, the plaintiff, who was previously teaching in SMK Pulau Gaya from Jan 2009 to May 16, 2011, claimed that the first, second and third defendants wrote and published defamatory words against him through the Facebook account of the second defendant on May 28, 2011.

He alleged that on Oct 17, 2011, the second defendant published another article on Facebook, in which the second, third and fourth defendants published defamatory words against him.

He contended that all the defendants knew that the defamatory words can be understood that the plaintiff was wrong in filing another defamation suit against the third defendant, and the plaintiff was an immoral person and doing meaningless job.

Salleh also claimed the defamatory words in the articles published on Facebook were meant to lower the plaintiff’s reputation, and expose him to humiliation and embarrassment .

As a result of the publication of the articles, the plaintiff claimed that his reputation has been damaged, lowered and exposed to humiliation and embarrasment. (Theborneopost)