No BM translation. Does the defamation claim fail?

Someone publishes defamatory statements about you in English. You bring a claim and reproduce the exact statements in your court documents, but leave out their Bahasa Malaysia translation. Does that omission mean you lose the case?

The Court of Appeal addressed this question in Jason Jonathan Lo v Star Media Group Berhad & Ors and Another Appeal [2026] 6 MLRA 113.

What happened?

Jason Lo sued over newspaper articles, online publications and a Facebook republication. Although he was not named, the court found that the descriptions were sufficient to identify him.

His statement of claim was substantially written in BM, but the offending statements were reproduced in their original English without a BM translation.

The defendants understood those statements and defended the case through a full trial without objecting to the missing translation. The High Court found them liable and awarded RM200,000 in damages.

When both sides appealed, the Court of Appeal raised the question of whether the missing translation affected the validity of the claim.

What did the court decide?

The missing translation did not defeat the claim.

The exact English words were already before the court. The defendants knew which statements were being challenged and had fully argued their case. The omission had neither confused them nor affected their ability to defend themselves.

This departs from Rekha Munisamy v Ortus Expert White Sdn Bhd & Anor [2021] 7 CLJ 353, where the Court of Appeal treated the failure to translate the defamatory statements into BM as fatal. In Jason Lo, the court held that this earlier approach had overlooked relevant authorities and should no longer be followed on that point.

The Court of Appeal maintained the finding of liability, increased the damages to RM300,000 and ordered retractions of the two articles.

Can the translation simply be left out?

The court did not give parties permission to disregard translation requirements. It expressly said that proper practice remains to reproduce the original statements with an appropriate BM translation.

However, a missing translation does not automatically justify dismissing the entire case. The court can require the omission to be corrected. Whether the words were understood and whether anyone’s ability to present their case was affected are relevant considerations.

What does this mean for you?

If you are bringing a defamation claim, preserve the original publication and ensure that the exact words and appropriate translation are included in your court documents. This avoids an unnecessary dispute over the paperwork.

If you are defending a claim, a missing BM translation is not an automatic escape from liability. Everyone may have understood the statements and fully contested the case without unfairness. In those circumstances, the omission alone will not necessarily defeat the claim.

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