Former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan must pay RM250,000 in damages to Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh after Malaysia’s Federal Court rejected his bid to pursue a final appeal in a defamation lawsuit.
A three-member Federal Court panel, chaired by Justice Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang, unanimously dismissed Musa’s application for leave to appeal, effectively upholding the Court of Appeal’s earlier ruling in favour of Yeoh.
Under Malaysia’s civil legal system, parties seeking to bring a case before the Federal Court must first obtain leave to appeal.
Delivering the decision, Justice Rhodzariah said the legal questions raised by Musa failed to satisfy the threshold required under Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964, as they did not involve issues of sufficient public importance.
“The questions raised do not amount to questions of law of public importance,” she said. The court also ordered Musa to pay RM50,000 in legal costs.
The remaining members of the Federal Court panel were Justice Datuk Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali and Justice Datuk Azmi Ariffin.
Musa was represented by lawyer Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz, while Yeoh was represented by Razlan Hadri Zulkifli.
The application sought to overturn a Court of Appeal decision that had found Musa liable for defamatory remarks made about Yeoh during a forum held at a university.
On 13 January, the Court of Appeal unanimously ruled in Yeoh’s favour, setting aside an earlier High Court decision that had dismissed her defamation suit.
Yeoh, who currently serves as a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories), filed her appeal on 26 December 2024 after the Kuala Lumpur High Court rejected her claim three days earlier.
In her lawsuit, filed on 3 July 2020, Yeoh alleged that Musa had made false and defamatory statements during the forum, claiming that her book, Becoming Hannah: A Personal Journey, was written to turn Malaysia into a Christian nation, undermine Islam and Malaysia, and place her personal interests above those of the country.
The Federal Court’s latest ruling brings the long-running defamation case to a close, leaving the Court of Appeal’s award of RM250,000 in damages intact.
