Wong Geok Lan, 56, who had taught at SMK Convent Light Street here, had taken her then principal, Lee Chooi Sian, to court for writing defamatory remarks against her in a report to the Penang Education Department.

Judge Azman Abu Hassan said the court found Wong had proven her case and that the remarks made by Lee were indeed defamatory.

Azman ordered Lee to pay Wong RM350,000 in general damages and RM50,000 in aggravated damages. He also ordered Lee to pay RM30,000 in costs to Wong.

In Wong’s statement of claim, Wong said Lee had sent seven letters between July 11, 2012 and Jan 29, 2013 with defamatory remarks against her.

Lee’s report claimed that Wong had “aggressively attacked the principal”, scolded the principal with words such as “you are gila”, “you are an idiot” and “you go to hell”.

Lee had also accused Wong of refusing to comply with regulations in school and complained about her performance. Wong was also accused of scolding her students using the word “stupid” and that she had been disrespectful to other teachers.

Wong felt the remarks had painted her as an “aggressive, unsound, insane, problematic, liar, autocratic, lazy, irresponsible, incompetent person”.

She sought an injunction to stop the defendant from repeating such remarks and RM1.8 million in damages.

Lee, in her statement of defence on May 21, 2013, denied all claims made by Wong. Lee urged Wong to provide proof of her allegations.

According to their respective counsel, both Wong and Lee had been transferred to different schools.

Wong was represented by John Khoo, while Lee was represented by Nurul Huda Mohd Salehuddin.