JUDGMENT

Ahmad Maarop CJM:

[1] In this judgment, the parties will be referred to as they were in the proceeding in the High Court.

[2] This case concerns the plaintiffs appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal on 18 November 2013 reversing the decision of the High Court which had, on 29 February 2012 allowed the plaintiffs claim for libel against the defendants, and awarded the plaintiff a global sum of RM1 million for compensatory, aggrieved and exemplary damages.

[3] The leave to appeal to this court was granted on the following question:-

"Whether the defence of qualified privilege can be invoked by the 1st Respondent against any person who relied on information which truthfulness or accuracy is doubted and/or which is already known to the public."

[4] The background facts leading to the present appeal are these. Both the plaintiff and the 1st defendant are the former Chief Ministers of Sabah. The 2nd defendant is a political party. The suit which is the subject matter of this appeal was triggered by a speech delivered by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah ("Tengku Razaleigh") at the Hongkod Koisan KDCA Penampang, Sabah on 2 April 2010. The speech was published in the Daily Express on 4 April 2010 with the caption "Invite saved my life: Razaleigh". The topic of the speech was "Minyak Sabah Untuk Siapa?". The relevant parts of the speech are as follows:-