Ramkarpal Singh, who is Lim’s lawyer and chairman of DAP’s national legal bureau, said the suit was filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court in Jalan Duta on Oct 17, and served on Hanif’s solicitors today.
“The matter has been fixed for case management on Nov 21,” he said in a statement.
The matter surfaced after Sinar Harian reported Hanif as saying on Sept 6 that he had put Lim in prison under the Internal Security Act in May 1969 because the DAP leader wanted to divide Peninsular Malaysia into two parts after the 1969 general election – the east coast for the Malays and the west coast for the Chinese.
Lim dismissed the claims, labelling them as “cock-and-bull stories about (Hanif’s) past police career” which were “replete with errors”.
He also demanded that Hanif provide a satisfactory response on the allegations.
On Sept 9, Ramkarpal said he had been given instructions to commence legal proceedings against the former inspector-general of police.
He said Hanif’s claim that he had put Lim behind bars as a result of the alleged remarks was a clear insinuation on his part that Lim was responsible for such a demand.
He added that it was highly defamatory and possibly seditious.