Media statement by Fong Kui Lun in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, 7^th July 2012:

Fund-raising campaign to assist Tony Pua to pay RM200,000 in damages and more in interest and costs to SYABAS

Tony Pua has been ordered by the Kuala Lumpur High Court Judge Amelia Tee Hong Geok Abdullah on 6 June 2012 to pay RM200,000 damages to Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (SYABAS) for defaming them. There will also be costs and interest payable to SYABAS to be determined at a later date. SYABAS has sued Tony for defamation when he fought for water rights privatized by the BN government, to be returned to the Selangor state government.

Tony Pua has filed an appealed to the Court of Appeal for the above case on 22 June 2012 and the Court has fixed the case management on 24 July 2012 2.30pm.

Despite the filing of the appeal, SYABAS lawyers has written to my lawyers to demand for payment as awarded by the High Court.

Hence the DAP would be organizing 2 concurrent campaigns to raise funds to assist Tony in defraying the damages, interest and cost of the suit.

The first is a Fund-Raising Dinner in "Solidarity & Support for Tony Pua vs Syabas" to be held on 17 July 2012 (Tuesday) 7pm at MBPJ Civic Centre Banquet Hall.

The speakers at the dinner will include Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary Leader; Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, Selangor Menteri Besar; Teresa Kok, Selangor State Executive Councillor; Gobind Singh, MP Puchong; Charles Santiago, MP Klang; Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, MP Kuala Selangor and Tony himself.

The primary language for this dinner will be English and Bahasa Malaysia. Halal food is available upon request. Silver dinner tickets will be RM100 per pax or RM1,000 per table. Gold sponsorship tables are available for RM3,000 per table respectively.

For reservations, please email to [email protected] or contact Ms Cheah Yee Ling 016 878 2472.

The second campaign is the "RM1 for Water Rights: 100,000 Malaysians Support Tony Pua vs Syabas" to mobilise Malaysians all over the country to participate by donating as little as RM1 to help Tony fight the cause for water rights in Selangor and in Malaysia. This campaign will be launch online via our websites, Facebooks and Twitter as well as in our public events.

The success of this campaign will prove to the Federal Government that the rights of Malaysians to enjoy affordable water must not be privatized to crony companies of Barisan Nasional.

Donations can be made online at https://dapmalaysia/donate/. Cash or cheques should be written to "DAP Malaysia" can be deposited at DAP Malaysia Maybank account: 5141 7814 5866.

We thank all in advance for the support!

* Fong Kui Lun, DAP National Treasurer & MP for Bukit Bintang