KUALA LUMPUR: Former inspector-general of police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said that he had not encountered any classified documents during his tenure linking Youth and Sports minister Hannah Yeoh to an "evangelical group" allegedly attempting to turn the country into a Christian nation.
Testifying in Yeoh's lawsuit against him in the High Court, Musa said that he was only aware of several police reports filed concerning the contents of Yeoh's autobiography, "Becoming Hannah, A Personal Journey," FMT reported.
The book narrates Yeoh's transformation as an ordinary Malaysian woman through her faith as a Christian, which eventually led her into politics.
When asked by Yeoh's lawyer, Razlan Hadri Zulkifli, whether Musa knew whether she was charged in court for any offence arising from the complaints in the police reports, he said she was not.
Yeoh filed her suit against Musa in 2020, alleging that the former top cop had told a forum at Universiti Teknologi Mara on Jan 30, 2020, that she was involved in an attempt to turn Malaysia into a Christian nation.
She claims Musa, who served as IGP from 2006 to 2010, said at the forum that an unnamed evangelical group linked to DAP was trying to destroy Islam in the country.
Musa is also alleged to have said that Yeoh had written a book "to make this country a Christian country".
Yeoh had sought general, aggravated, and exemplary damages from Musa, and an injunction to restrain him and other parties from further publishing the impugned statements.
The former top cop also told the court that Universiti Utara Malaysia lecturer Kamarul Zaman Yusoff had written an "academic exposure" of Yeoh's biography on his Facebook account.
"Kamarul had said that Yeoh's book contained elements of proselytisation. I relied on his (Kamarul's) post as the basis of my speech (at the UiTM forum)," Musa said.
Razlan then asked whether Musa considered what Kamarul wrote in his Facebook post about Yeoh's book to be "academic writing."
"In my view, it was," he said.
The lawyer also inquired about the invitation Musa received from the event's organiser.
"You mentioned that this was a closed-door function, but the invitation letter did not say so," Razlan said.
In response, Musa said that only certain people received invitations to attend the forum, and thus he assumed it was a closed-door event.
Musa also stated that it was his personal view that Yeoh was trying to turn the country into a "Christian nation," based on the contents of her book.
"I did not say (at the forum) that she was involved (with the evangelical group), but that the book might influence others," he said.
The hearing before judicial commissioner Arziah Apandi will continue on July 25 and 26.