SUNGAI Besar Umno division chief Jamal Yunos was reprimanded by a judge for making unfounded statements in court against electoral reform group Bersih 2.0 during hearing for a defamation trial today.

Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab told the former Red Shirts leader to refrain from speculating on why Bersih was not registered with the Registrar of Societies.

“This is a court of law. You cannot make statements without evidence. This is not a coffee shop,” Zaki said, after which Jamal’s lawyer V. Mugunthan stood up to explain.

“Stand down. It’s not for you (to speak). This is the right of a judge. You cannot just say something when there’s no supporting evidence,” Zaki retorted.

“When you make allegations about something it’s subject to cross examination later, it must be supported by evidence.”

Jamal, who was a fugitive until he was arrested in Jakarta earlier this month, is on trial for allegedly defaming former Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah by implying that she was an agent of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.

Jamal told the court today that he had failed to find evidence to support his claim about Bersih from the Registrar of Societies and the Companies Commission of Malaysia.

Instead, he said his statements on Bersih and Maria had been gathered from social media and online articles.

These included articles that linked Maria’s late husband, activist and former Internal Security Act detainee Yunus Lebai Ali, as being a member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).

“I have no malicious intent to smear anyones names with my comments. My intention was that the authorities be wary of the presence of participants who can cause disruption and violence as well as public disorder,” Jamal said in his witness statement.

Jamal, who wore a black blazer over a blue shirt and a songkok, appeared calm during cross examination led by Maria’s lead counsel N Surendran.

The Umno grassroots leader was represented by Mohd Fauzi Abdul Samad and Mohd Nasser Yusof, who acted as lead counsel.

In her suit, Maria said that Jamal had uttered slanderous words against Bersih during a press conference at the Putra World Trade Centre on September 28 last year.

She also said Jamal had uttered similar slander during a media conference at the Bukit Aman police headquarters on October 4 last year.

During the two hour cross examination today, Jamal also said that he has no evidence for his claim that Bersih had appointed consultants from Thailand and Taiwan in a plan to get members to “take over” strategic areas during the Bersih 5 rally in November 2016.

Surendran also asked Jamal to explain a comment he made during a press conference in Klang in September 2016 when he described Maria as “circus animal”.

Jamal denied malicious intent for that comment.

He also denied malicious intent when he flushed Maria’s letter of demand down a toilet in the presence of the media in October 2016 and when he said that Maria, former Bersih chairman Ambiga Sreenevasan and Bersih committee member Mandeep Singh should not exist if Malaysia wanted peace.

Jamal denied that the Red Shirts movement was aggressive and violent and said that Bersih was instead the violent organisation.

He also denied making the comment that Bersih’s rally in November 2016 would result in a repeat of the May 13 race riots.

Jamal said the statement was made after his Facebook account was hacked and he had lodged a police report on the matter. He was remanded for four days for that incident.

Judge Zaki fixed August 13 for case management for the plaintiff to obtain the notes of evidence. The court will then fix a date for submissions to be filed and a decision date.

Jamal is the final witness. The witnesses for the plaintiff were activist Hishamuddin Rais, Maria and Anwar Ibrahim. – July 23, 2018.