KUALA LUMPUR - DAP vice-president Teresa Kok is demanding RM25 million in damages from Umno Youth chief Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh over the latter's alleged defamatory statement against her over the halal certification issue.
The Seputeh MP made the demand through a letter of demand (LOD) against Dr Akmal which was issued through Messrs SN Nair & Partners, today.
The letter was made in response to Dr Akmal's video on TikTok, last Saturday.
Based on the LOD, Kok's lawyer Datuk Sankara Nair stated that the Umno politician had made statements alluding to his client directly and indirectly, in a derogatory manner.
In the LOD, she claimed that to date, the video posted by Dr Akmal garnered more than 720,500 views, more than 75,000 likes, 9314 comments, 6,162 favourites and a total number 8,784 shares.
She claimed that Dr Akmal's statement was also published and republished through various social media platforms and news portals.
"Our client contends that the impugned slanderous words and/or the impugned libelous words uttered by you (Dr Akmal), which have been published and/or republished and/or caused to be published and/or caused to be republished by you, are: False, extreme, outrageous, vile, misleading, specious, spurious and wholly inappropriate.
"We await your response without delay.
"If our client does not receive any satisfactory response from you within seven working days from the date of receipt of this notice, our instructions are to initiate legal action with no further reference to you," the letter stated.
Previously, Kok said she was considering taking legal action against Dr Akmal after alleging that the latter wanted to paste a non-halal logo on her forehead.
She claimed that halal certification should be voluntary, allowing businesses to decide based on market demand, rather than it being enforced.
She argued that mandating halal certification for restaurants and food companies would only burden traders.
Meanwhile, Dr Akmal in a brief response said he was ready to meet Kok in court.
"We’ll meet in court," he said.