By M. MAGESWARI

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: DAP national chairman Karpal Singh has filed a RM10mil defamation suit against Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd.

Karpal Singh filed a writ of summons and a statement of claim at the High Court civil registry at noon yesterday.

He claimed that the defendant, which is the publisher and printer of Utusan Malaysia, had defamed him through an article dated Aug 25.

In the statement of claim, the plaintiff said the words in the article were highly malicious as he had not uttered them in his welcoming address at the 15th DAP national congress on Aug 24.

The Member of Parliament for Bukit Gelugor said the offending words meant that he rejected Islam as the official religion of the country.

Karpal Singh said the words also implied that he was anti-national, a threat to national security and disloyal to the country.

Besides that, the words also portrayed him as irresponsible, reckless and unfit to hold public office.

Speaking to reporters after the filing, Karpal Singh said he took legal action as the matter involved public interest and was serious.

He said he believed in freedom of the press but publication should not be done with falsehood.

"In my membership in Parliament, for the last 26 years in the Dewan Rakyat, I have always maintained that Islam is the official religion of the country as guaranteed under the Article 3(1) of the Federal Constitution with freedom to practise all other religions in peace and harmony," he said.

He said the article was baseless and gravely injured his professional and political reputation.

Karpal Singh said he had sent a notice to the defendant to unconditionally retract the words and apologise to him without prejudice to his right to commence legal proceedings.

In the statement further, he said the defendant had complied with him by publishing a complete retraction and apology on Aug 26 accepting that the words had no basis.