Hannah Yeoh defends use of official vehicle, bodyguard to attend her defamation trial against lecturer

Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh has defended the use of her official car and bodyguards when attending the hearing of her defamation case against a university lecturer after social media users questioned whether she was more concerned with her personal affairs than her official duties.

This comes as Telegram channel Edisi Siasat reported that Yeoh had been absent from her ministry to attend the hearing of her case against Universiti Utara Malaysia lecturer Kamarul Zaman Yusoff, which began on Nov 25 last year.

The popular whistleblower channel also published a picture of Yeoh's official vehicle arriving at the Jalan Duta court complex and another of her being seated in the courtroom.

"Although she herself is not involved in the trial and only her witnesses or Kamarul's witnesses are giving their testimonies, she thinks that her personal trial is much more important than the administrative affairs of the country," the post reads.

However, the DAP leader rejected the criticism, saying her defamation suit is related to her duties.

"Wherever we go, this is government facility together with us. This is not for party use, and all the allegations (by Kamarul) are concerning my work also," Yeoh told MalaysiaNow when met at the Jalan Duta court complex, after arriving in a black Toyota Vellfire accompanied by her official bodyguard.

She denied allegations that she was misusing government property, adding that her work was "not at all affected".

"That's not an issue. You can run in and out at court and still attend meetings and appointments, and I am still in Parliament.

"It is on and off," she added.

Yeoh is suing Kamarul over two Facebook posts he made in 2017 accusing her of trying to proselytise Christianity through her political career.

Kamarul also made reference to her biography "Becoming Hannah: A Personal Journey", the contents of which sparked a debate on social media  following her recent loss in a separate  defamation case she took against former inspector-general of police Musa Hassan.

Yeoh was embroiled in a controversy involving a contract awarded by the Pakatan Harapan-led Selangor state government to her husband's company without going through the open tender process.

In May last year, Yeoh, who accompanied Malaysian athletes at the Paris Olympics, was criticised by Malaysians for uploading a "fangirl" photo of her and Thai badminton star Kunlavut Vitidsarn, who defeated national shuttler Lee Zii Jia.

"I enjoy his style of badminton so much. So calm and collected. He has a new fan in me!" Yeoh wrote in an Instagram post.

Social media users said the post showed Yeoh was "tone deaf" and did not understand why she was in Paris with the national contingent.

"Your athlete who fought for the country just came out saying the loss was devastating for him and here you're celebrating the man who crushed his dream. What an excellent sports minister you are, never voting for this person again," Instagram user @aijklmnop123 wrote among hundreds of comments criticising Yeoh.

Last year, Yeoh attacked a massage chair company for sponsoring an episode of the "Keluar Sekejap" podcast hosted by former Umno duo Khairy Jamaluddin and Shahril Hamdan, in which they criticised her for not taking responsibility for Malaysia's poor performance at the Paris Olympics.

"Your massage chair is now seen as the ideal spot for armchair critics," she wrote in an Instagram post to massage chair brand Gintell, adding, "Would love to hear from you."

Shahril then fired back at the minister:

"If you really have a problem with the relatively mild comments made about you (you should see what others say elsewhere), maybe respond substantively to those comments."