Vivy Yusof has filed a defamation suit against a netizen over the issue regarding the financial aid received by the B40 and M40 class people through the economic stimulus package.
The 33-year-old fashion blogger-turned-businesswoman filed the suit against Alia Najwa Hassannudin, as the sole defendant through law firm, Messrs. Foong Cheng Leong & Co, on 15th June.
Based on the statement of claim sighted through an e-filing online file search, the FashionValet co-founder uploaded a video on her Instagram account on a conversation between four entrepreneurs on 28th March. The IGTV clip was about the Malaysian economy during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the economic stimulus package announced by PM Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
Vivy then claimed that the defendant published several false statements regarding the plaintiff in her Facebook and Instagram accounts. In this case, the defendant claimed that the plaintiff questioned the government’s action to help the B40 and M40 groups on 30th March.
According to the mother-of-three, the defendant’s alleged defamatory statements were meant to argue that she had insulted and belittled the two groups, stating that she wasn’t sympathetic and didn’t care about those who were affected by the deadly disease. Vivy further claimed that the statements posted by the defendant were made with malicious intent when it went viral on social media.
Worse, the incident had also led to the launch of a petition online, urging Vivy to be removed as UiTM’s board of directors. The petition, which was launched by the alumni association of the university, had been signed by more than 230,000 Internet users before it was permanently removed almost a week after that.
She also claimed that her legal team had submitted a letter of claim on 2nd April, demanding the individual in question to refrain from publishing any defamatory statements against the plaintiff on social media. The defendant replied to the letter through her Facebook account, but she failed to comply with all of the plaintiff’s wishes.
Therefore, the plaintiff is seeking for general, aggravated and exemplary damages, as well as an order for the defendant to remove the defamatory statements and to issue an apology.
The lawsuit is fixed for case management before High Court judge Justice Datin Rohani Ismail on 7th October.
Source: Berita Harian. / Featured Image: NST.
