KUALA LUMPUR: Social activist Hishamuddin Md Rais dismissed a suggestion in the High Court today that Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah’s late husband took up arms with the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).
Hishamuddin said this when cross-examined by lawyer Mohd Naseer Yusuf in the defamation lawsuit brought by Maria against Red Shirts leader Jamal Yunos.
Naseer, who represented Jamal, repeatedly described the PLO as a militant group.
Hishamuddin, the second witness to take the stand, said he and Yunus Ali, Maria’s husband, joined the PLO sometime in the late 1970s but he left later.
He said Yunus was a commando with PLO but denied he (Yunus) used arms to help the group achieve its objectives.
“PLO is not a terrorist organisation,” he said in the hearing before Justice Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab.
Hishamuddin said Yunus was part of the then PLO leader Yasser Arafat’s security team as he was a silat exponent from Kuala Kangsar.
He also said Yunus was a member of Al-Fatah, a sub-group within PLO in 1977.
According to reports from several news portals, Yunus died of kidney failure in 2010.
Maria met him in London where he lived in exile after the government cracked down on student activities following the Baling demonstration by students and farmers in Kedah in 1974.
Yunus returned to Malaysia in 1984 but was arrested under the now repealed Internal Security Act in 1987.
Hishamuddin said Yunus had been involved in the student movement together with him and several others.
Hishamuddin added he was well versed with Bersih’s activities and was once part of the committee that organised peaceful rallies, including the one in 2012.
He said the 2012 rally for a free and fair election was “under control” despite Naseer showing him a photograph of an individual clad in a yellow T-shirt on top of a police car.
“The individual was on top of the vehicle to plead with others not to come closer to the car,” he said.
Hishamuddin said the car was overturned to rescue someone trapped under the vehicle after it ran into the crowd.
Earlier, in his witness statement, Hishamuddin said he was close to Yunus, who was a member of Kelab Sosialis Universiti Malaya and a member of the students’ council in 1973.
Re-examined by lawyer Latheefa Koya, for Maria, Hishamuddin said he had written an article to show that PLO and Al-Fatah were not terrorist organisations.
“In fact, Arafat was invited to speak in the United Nations in 1975,” he said.
He pointed out that the Malaysian government also recognised the Palestinian leader who once visited Malaysia.
Maria is suing Jamal for allegedly slandering her and Bersih during a press conference outside the Putra World Trade Centre on Sept 28, 2016.
She also claimed that on Oct 4 that year, Jamal had uttered similar slanderous words against Bersih during a media conference in the Bukit Aman police headquarters compound.
In her statement of claim filed on Oct 7, Maria said she had been brought into public scandal and had her reputation and good name tarnished.
She is seeking general and aggravated damages, as well as an injunction to stop Jamal from uttering or publishing similar words, either verbally, in print, or online.
Jamal is relying on justification and fair comment as defence to the lawsuit.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim will take the stand on Friday as a witness for Maria.
Sumber Activist: Maria’s husband a member of PLO but didn’t use arms