BANGI MP Ong Kian Ming has received a legal notice from the LimKokWing University of Creative Technology (LUCT) vice-president for an allegedly defamatory retweet.

Gail Phung is demanding RM50 million in damages from the DAP lawmaker.

“I have received a notice of demand, cease and desist and intimation of legal proceedings via the DAP headquarters, on September 4, issued by the lawyers of Dato’ Gail Phung, senior vice President of LUCT,” Ong said in a statement today.

“This notice purports that I have retweeted a defamatory tweet against Dato’ Gail Phung. Among others, the said notice demands that I pay the sum of RM50 million to Dato’ Gail Phung purportedly for compensation and damages,” he said in a statement today.

The former deputy minister of international trade and industry said he would not make a public apology for his tweets and public statements about the university and its management.

“I definitely will not be paying ‘compensation’ of RM50 million to Dato’ Gail Phang purportedly for my public statements and tweets on this matter,” Ong said.

He said he had raised issues that were of public interest, which was consistent with his role as a member of parliament who has spoken and written about matters related to higher education.

“This appears to be a case of intimidation on the part of a senior executive of LUCT against a member of parliament who is raising a legitimate public interest issue,” he said.

The contentious tweet originated from @IamTheAdeline on August 6.

The tweet was related to allegations that the university had taken advantage of Africans in Sierra Leone, where it has a campus.

The LUCT and the late Sierra Leone education minister Minkailu Bah were said to be under investigation by the country’s anti-corruption agency for setting up the campus in 2013 without due process and compliance with the law.

This has resulted in high financial obligations for the Sierra Leone government.

However, the investigation ended with the death of Bah on May 18.

Ong, in his retweet, said: “These are very serious accusations against LIMKOKWING’s activities in Sierra Leone. This is not the first time this issue has been reported”.

He said he was referencing the tweet to give context to the accusation so that the relevant authorities in Malaysia could be made aware of the case and conduct the necessary investigations.

He added that corruption accusations against the founder and senior management of a well-known Malaysian university overseas would have a serious impact on the branding of Malaysian universities operating abroad. 

“As a member of parliament, it is well within my right and my duty to raise these issues to the attention of the officials in government, in this case, the Minister of Higher Education, Dr Noraini Ahmad (@drnorainiahmad) and her officers at the Ministry of Higher Education (@MOHEOfficial), which I tagged in my tweet,” he said.

Ong has instructed his lawyer Syahredzan Johan to respond to the notice. – September 11, 2020.