I refer to the Malaysiakini report Stop launch! Gerakan leader vs Gerakan book .

Regrettably your report is inaccurate and highly misleading when you stated:

‘According to a copy of the two-page letter made available to Malaysiakini , Chia took offence over a sentence from the 186-page book which cast aspersions on his and his brother's characters.

‘The authors penned that Kwang Chye's credibility ‘took a severe beating’ when his younger brother was nominated to contest in a ‘safe’ seat during the general election.

‘The letter of demand stated that the controversial wordings constitute a serious charge done without any foundation or basis against Loong Thye and caused him ‘serious damage and injury.’’

As you have a copy of the two-page letter, you will know that the offending and defamatory words were not what you have quoted above. How can the words, ‘Kwang Chye’s credibility took a severe beating when his younger brother was nominated to contest in a safe seat during the general election’ by themselves be defamatory of me?

The offending and defamatory words came after these words. Since you are unable to quote the full passage of the offending and defamatory words, and rightly so, it would be fair that you do not quote at all so as not to give your readers the wrong impression of me.

I believe in robust and critical journalism and writings, and the need to expand the scope and depth of the right to freedom of speech. But surely it must be done responsibly and with fairness. It must be done with dignity, professionalism and decorum, with regard to the reputation of the person or persons named in the article.

One has the right to write in the name of free speech but no one has the right to slander. The offending and defamatory words in the book as against me were absolutely baseless.

I agree that the issue of non-sectarian politics in Malaysia is an important issue and is very relevant in our present Malaysian politics. It is also legitimate to discuss the role of Gerakan in the context of non-sectarian politics.

But why is it not possible to discuss this issue without the need to slander another person? My complaint against the authors is just that. Thus it is never my intention to stop the forum entitled ‘The future of non-sectarian politics in Malaysia’ from being carried out as scheduled today at 4pm.

My purpose is to stop the launch of the book which contains the offending and defamatory words.

I urge the publishers and the authors to restrain from further publishing the offending and defamatory words in any manner whatsoever.