Malaysiakini fails final bid to set aside contempt conviction, fine

KUALA LUMPUR: News portal Malaysiakini today failed its bid to get the Federal Court to review its previous decision that found it guilty of contempt of court for publishing comments from five of its readers back in June 2020.

Federal Court judge Datuk Zaleha Yusof said the seven-man bench that she had chaired was unanimous in their dismissal of Malaysiakini operator Mkini Dotcom Sdn Bhd’s application for a review and rehearing of the previous February 2021 decision.

Zaleha said the seven-judge panel was not persuaded by Mkini Dotcom's arguments that there was a breach of natural justice that would require its case to be reheard.

“All the arguments raised before us had already been raised and considered by the panel hearing the contempt application.

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“Learned counsel for the applicant had argued the case before us as if it is an appeal. Even assuming for a moment we agree with the arguments advanced by the learned counsel, we are constrained by the lack of jurisdiction to entertain these complaints as this is a review application and not an appeal.

“As such, we are constrained to dismiss this application. Since this is a matter of public interest, we make no order as to costs,” the judge said.

The other judges on the panel today were Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof, Datuk Seri Hasnah Mohammed Hashim, Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan, Datuk Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal, Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang and Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah.

As the Federal Court is the highest court in Malaysia, and the application for the review of the Federal Court’s own previous decision is the final route available, this would be the end of Malaysiakini’s legal journey in defending itself against the allegations of contempt of court.

The Federal Court panel of seven judges today is different from the panel of seven judges which had in February 2021 decided on Malaysiakini’s contempt case.

On May 7, 2021, Malaysiakini’s operator Mkini Dotcom had filed an application against the attorney general to ask the Federal Court to review and set aside its earlier majority decision on February 19, 2021, which found the company to be guilty of contempt of court and imposed a RM500,000 fine over the contemptuous comments of five readers that were hosted on its website in June 2020.

Mkini Dotcom also asked the Federal Court to rehear the contempt proceedings against the company.

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Mkini Dotcom’s main argument was that the majority decision of the Federal Court in February 2021 had dealt with certain issues without providing the company with an opportunity to be heard and that this amounted to a breach of the rules of natural justice.

Mkini Dotcom also argued that the guarantees to a fair hearing under the Federal Constitution’s Article 5 and Article 8 had been breached and that the alleged breach of natural justice had resulted in a serious miscarriage of justice. - Malay Mail

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