District Judge Lim Wee Ming ruled against marathoner Soh Rui Yong in his defamation suit against the former executive director of Singapore Athletics (SA), Syed Abdul Malik Aljunied.
On Wednesday (June 8), Mr Malik’s defence of justification that the champion runner had “persistently behaved unreasonably and illogically” so much so that his “sense of logic and reason had been impaired” was accepted by District Judge Lim Wee Ming.
In 2019, Soh’s lawyers issued a Letter of Demand for Defamation to Mr Malik due to a Facebook post where the former SA director wrote that the marathon could “end up messing up with your mind and heart.”
Additionally, in a comment, Mr Malik wrote about “one particular runner” whom he did not name, but whom he wrote had a “messed up sense of logic and reason beyond repair,” for whom he felt “really sorry.”
And in a further comment, he wrote that “it seemed to have drained him of empathy, compassion, gratitude, and the capability to love others…”
The Aug 2019 letter sent from Clarence Lun, Soh’s lawyer, said that Mr Malik could only be referring to Mr Soh in the Facebook post.
Mr Malik said when the case was tried in January that he took down the post after around 15 hours as it had not been “in good taste.”
On January 17, while the trial was ongoing, Soh offered to drop the defamation lawsuit he filed against Mr Malik, but this was rejected.
The national record holder, who is currently studying law at University College London, penned a Facebook post after Judge Lim’s decision was handed down.
He wrote that he had filed the suit to hold Mr Malik accountable and that his post had been “unbecoming” of an executive director of Singapore Athletics.
But “a lot has changed” since the suit was filed, in that Mr Malik is no longer with SA.
“The sport of athletics is under much better leadership and management than it was in 2019. During the trial, Malik admitted that his Facebook post was made in ‘poor taste’, ‘impulsively’, and removed thereafter,” adding that he offered for the suit to be settled out of court as he believed Mr Malik’s admission “vindicated my position.”
Soh added that the trial judge had agreed that the post had been defamatory, “but my claim against him was defended by the defence of justification.”
The runner wrote that, together with his lawyers, he is reviewing the judgment before making the decision regarding whether an appeal would be worthwhile.
“Regardless of the eventual outcome in court, I believe this case has helped to highlight certain problems in athletics in 2019 and played a part in moving the sport to a better place now.
I forgive Malik and wish him all the best moving forward with his life. I will now focus on my performance as an athlete and a law student,” he added. /TISG