Malaysia’s Rosmah wins US$23,600 damages over black magic claims by TikTokker

The presiding judge says Rosmah Mansor’s previous corruption conviction should not affect the damages awarded to her in the defamation case

Former Malaysian first lady Rosmah Mansor has won 100,000 ringgit (US$23,600) in damages in a defamation case against a TikTokker who uploaded a video claiming that she had dabbled in black magic.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court said on Tuesday that Rosmah had proven her claim against 35-year-old Ku Muhammad Hilmie Ku Din.

“This global award … comprises general and aggravated damages,” Justice Ahmad Shahrir Mohd Salleh said during the damages assessment hearing, according to a report by local daily The Star.

In addition, the court also imposed 20,000 ringgit in costs and a 5 per cent annual interest on the sum of damages from the date of its decision until full payment is made.

Ku Hilmie was absent from the hearing, which was conducted online via Zoom. He also did not appear for the proceedings on May 28 last year, prompting the court to enter a judgment in default against him.

Rosmah, the wife of former prime minister Najib Razak, filed the civil suit seeking 1 million ringgit in damages against Ku Hilmie on September 19, 2023, for a video he uploaded on his TikTok account on March 2 that year.

Najib was convicted for his role in Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal in 2020 and still faces the main trial involving US$4.5 billion allegedly embezzled from the sovereign wealth fund.

According to Rosmah’s filing, she claimed that the video had defamed her by portraying her as a sinful person who needed to repent for taking part in mystical practices involving djinns, bomohs (shamans), polytheism and Satanism, local news website Scoop reported.

The allegations had harmed her standing as a former first lady and a patron of charitable causes and had caused her to be ridiculed and insulted, she said.

Rosmah too has been convicted of corruption by the High Court over a 1.25 billion ringgit solar energy project for Sarawak rural schools. She is currently appealing the verdict.

Shahrir said that Rosmah’s conviction, however, did not constitute evidence of bad character that warranted a reduction of the amount of damages. “This [conviction] does not extinguish the claimant’s right to claim [damages],” the judge said, according to The Edge newspaper.

He found that the allegations against Rosmah “constitute an attack on her character in the domains of religious integrity and moral standing”, the New Straits Times newspaper reported. “In a societal context where religious values and moral propriety carry significant weight, such allegations assume a particular seriousness and have the potential to cause distinct reputational harm.”

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Supernatural practices are frowned upon in Malaysia, where about 63 per cent of the population is Muslim.