TWO Sabahan men who sued PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang over an allegedly seditious statement against Christians in 2016 had their suit struck out by the court today.

Media reported that the Kuala Lumpur High Court allowed Hadi’s bid to strike out the suit, based on several reasons, including that the case was frivolous and the two plaintiffs had no locus standi to file it.

The plaintiffs, Maklin Masiau and Lawrence Jomiji Kinsil @ Maximilhian, two Christians from Sabah, filed the suit against Hadi in December last year as a public interest case.

The suit was over Hadi’s words in an article in PAS mouthpiece Harakah in January 2016 against Christianity and Christian missionaries.

Judge Akhtar Tahir, who allowed the application to strike out the suit, also ordered the two Sabahans to pay costs of RM50,000 each to the PAS president and Marang MP.

The two plaintiffs in their suit also sought a declaration that Hadi, because of his seditious words, was unfit to hold any position in the Malaysian government.

Hadi was appointed the prime minister’s special envoy to the Middle East in April last year, after the Perikatan Nasional government took over Putrajaya. The post’s status is equal to a minister.

The Sabahans only filed the suit late last year, among the reasons being that no action had been brought against Hadi by the public prosecutor since the Harakah article in 2016. – May 7, 2021.