KUALA LUMPUR: Late drama unfolded at the High Court when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad refused to answer 'repetitive' questions posed by a lawyer during the hearing today.
This happened after lawyer Mohamed Shahrul Fazli Kamarulzaman kept pressing the former prime minister with multiple questions about his ancestry while the latter was testifying as a witness in his defamation suit.
The 99-year-old politician is suing Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi over the latter's remarks in 2017 alleging Dr Mahathir's real name was Mahathir a/l Iskandar Kutty.
Shahrul, who appeared for the deputy prime minister, had been focusing his line of questioning on Dr Mahathir's ancestry since yesterday before Judicial Commissioner Gan Techiong.
However, today, Dr Mahathir pushed back, questioning the relevance of the lawyer's inquiries regarding his ancestry in relation to his suit against Zahid, which centres on the latter's remarks against him.
"You keep questioning my ancestry, but the case I filed is about whether Zahid lied or not and whether his statement was defamatory.
"I dare him to prove that I am not Mahathir bin Mohamad, that's the way, not by questioning other matters.
"I did not take (legal) action against others, but only against what he (Zahid) said... prove it.
"Show my IC (MyKad), to me (other questions) are not relevant... I will not answer," he said.
This prompted Gan to interject and explain the court process to the plaintiff, (Dr Mahathir) before asking him to answer the questions.
Gan: You are someone with a clear mind. I am sure everyone here is impressed with you. I hope you can cooperate by answering the lawyer's questions.
Dr Mahathir: But it is not relevant.
Gan: With all due respect, Tun, before July 2017, the date this lawsuit was filed, there were articles before that which stated your name as Mahathir a/l Iskandar Kutty.
They (the lawyers) have the right to ask. They are trying to show that the defendant (Zahid) was not the first to raise this issue.
Dr Mahathir: Many articles written are not true. They emphasised that my grandfather's name was Kutty. I have already answered that.
Gan: This is an adversarial system, that is how it works. You are here as a witness, and the defendant's lawyers have the right to ask cross-examination questions.
The process is that after this, there will be a re-examination by your lawyer for clarification.
Dr Mahathir: I will answer, but they keep asking the same questions.
At that point, the lawyer requested the proceedings to be adjourned to Oct 14.
On July 20, 2022, Dr Mahathir filed the suit, naming Zahid, who is also the Umno president, as the defendant.
His suit states that the plaintiff genuinely believes that the defendant's reference in the alleged defamatory statement to "that person", "he", and "Mahathir, the son of Iskandar Kutty", explicitly refers to him.
He said his status as a statesman and an influential political figure in the eyes of the world was also skewed as a result.
The statement makes out Dr Mahathir to be a liar, untrustworthy, selfish, unethical while holding public office and unfit to be a leader or public figure, he said.