SHAH ALAM - Caretaker Deputy Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz is demanding RM500,000 in damages from Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) deputy president Rafizi Ramli over the latter's alleged defamatory remark on the self-propelled howitzer (SPH) contract acquisition.
Ikmal said he also urged Rafizi to take down the defamatory statement and to stop spreading it or repeating the statement against him (Ikmal) and his wife.
He also demanded for the Pakatan Harapan (PH) Pandan Parliament candidate to apologise to him publicly and clear his and his wife's names that had been tainted.
"If these demands are not fulfilled within seven days, I will continue with the civil action in court.
"This is to protect my good name and it is also my responsibility to keep my family safe.
"Holding on to the principle of "do right and fear no man", I am ready to go to court to clear my name that has been tainted by Rafizi's irresponsible defamatory statement.
"Never involve a person's wife or children in politics just to gain votes," he said in a statement on Thursday.
Rafiizi previously continued to make disclosures regarding Ikmal's involvement in the procurement of the SPH contract, however, a police report was made regarding the allegations on Oct 7.
Ikmal said Rafizi made such statements as the latter was starting to worry about the wave of support received by Perikatan Nasional (PN) in the 15th General election (GE15).
"Realising the fact and feeling the wave of support for PN rising, he (Rafizi) is trembling and he strived to make the opposition look bad.
"The purpose was merely to make the people hallucinate. He made the assumption that others were not clean and he was the only one who is clean," Ikmal said.
Ikmal reiterated that the assets acquisition at the ministry was made through a tight work process.
"It needed to be agreed by the end-user which were the Malaysian Army, Royal Malaysian Navy and Royal Malaysian Air Force," he said.