If anyone were to sue Umno bloggers Papagomo and Parpukari, one would have expected the plaintiff to be from the Pakatan Rakyat, especially Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim or Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng - both of whom have suffered huge slander and lies from Umno's 'cyber war'.But right now, causing worry to the two Umno men is a possible RM10 million lawsuit for alleged defamation of businessman Abdul Razak Mohd Noor. And Umno insiders say this reflects the infighting taking place in Prime Minister Najib Razak's party.
"Yes, they are pro-Umno bloggers but generally, pro-Umno bloggers don't just attack the Pakatan. Their job scope can be very wide, it depends on who is paying them. They can also attack rival factions within Umno if they wish. In the past there was the surat layang or poison pen letter, but nowadays, it is all electronic," a cybertrooper told Malaysia Chronicle.
Conman?
Abdul Razak's lawyers, Netto & Co have issued a letter of demand to the duo on Jan 3.
They have also published a notice of demand in a major local daily last Saturday.Reuben Netto, Abdul Razak's lawyer said his client had no other avenues to defend himself but via the notices.
"When we go before the judge, we want to say that we have done everything in our power to identify the bloggers," he said.
Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris have been named as the owner of the Papagomo blog and Mohamad Salim Iskandar as the owner of the Parpukari blog.
Abdul Razak, in his statement, claims that Papagomo had through a blog posting on Dec 11, 2011 and Parpukari through a blog posting on Dec 4 and Dec 12, 2011 defamed him.
"They have defamed my client by calling him a conman and accusing him of cheating the government, saying that he had collaborated with the opposition and labelling him as being ungrateful to Umno," said Netto.
Parpukari ignores demand
Netto said Abdul Razak holds all telecommunications licences relating to broadband and satellite services in partnership with Telekom Malaysia when justifying the demand of RM10 million in damages,
"He is supplying the Malaysian public with broadband services in cooperation with Telekom, he is a fairly big person in terms of the services he renders.
"But with these defamatory articles, the banks and Telekom are calling up my client and asking what is happening," he said.
Parpukari has so far ignored the notices but Papagomo has met other bloggers and asked advice on the matter, according to Netto. - Malaysia Chronicle
