PRIME Minister Anwar Ibrahim has been given until June 14 to file his defence in a RM150 million defamation lawsuit brought by Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Dr Mahathir had sued Anwar after the latter had allegedly called the former a racist and accused him of enriching his family while in office.

Free Malaysia Today quoted Anwar’s counsel, Alliff Benjamin Suhaimi, as saying the directive was issued by the Kuala Lumpur High Court during case management before senior assistant registrar Elizabeth Low.

Dr Mahathir’s lawyers must file their response by July 6. The next case management will be held on July 7.

During the PKR special national congress on March 18, Anwar had allegedly said, “someone, after 22 years and another 22 months in power, is lamenting that the Malays have lost everything. How could they not, if you were taking everything for your family and children. Now when you have lost power, you want to talk about the people.”

The Prime Minister had also hit out against those attempting to create racial disunity, saying that “patriotism, racism and religious bigotry are the last refuge of the scoundrel”.

Dr Mahathir, in his lawsuit said the alleged statements were made by Anwar in his capacity as the prime minister and, as such, had a far more devastating effect on him compared with similar statements made by ordinary citizens, adding the allegations eroded his status as a statesman and former prime minister.

He demanded Anwar retract all defamatory statements made against him, published both on mainstream and social media.

Dr Mahathir is also seeking an unconditional apology with the assurance he will not repeat the same or similar statements in the future. – May 31 2023.