PETALING JAYA - MALAYSIAN MP Teresa Kok is demanding RM100 million (S$41 million) in compensation from Utusan Malaysia columnist Datuk Chamil Wariya and the Malay newspaper for defamation.

She is also demanding RM10 million for defamation from Cheras Umno division chairman Syed Ali Al-Habshee.

Ms Kok's counsel Sankara Nair said letters of demand were sent to Mr Chamil and Mr Syed Ali last Friday, giving them a week to respond.

'We are asking for compensation as Chamil's article instigated assassination when it said that the MP should be shot,' he told The Star.

'The implication is serious, and the amount (RM100 million) set is considerably high because it involves her life'.

On Oct 12, Utusan published Mr Chamil's story titled Politik Baru YB J, which Mr Sankara claimed referred either directly or by innuendo to his client.

Besides the RM100 million, Ms Kok is also demanding an immediate public retraction by Utusan and an apology to be published in newspapers of her choice, plus an undertaking that Mr Chamil and Utusan will not repeat the allegations and comments contained in the impugned article.

A spokesman for Utusan's legal department said it had yet to receive the letter of demand.

On the second case, Mr Sankara said Mr Syed Ali uttered defamatory words when he said that suing Utusan was like suing the Malays.

'She never wanted to sue Malays, just Utusan,' he said.

Ms Kok is also seeking a public retraction, an apology in the media and an undertaking from Mr Syed Ali that the allegations and comments are not repeated.

On Oct 9, Kok filed a RM30 million suit against Utusan Melayu and the paper's columnist Zaini Hassan over an article that allegedly defamed her. -- THE STAR