Home Minister Azmi Khalid said today he will leave it to the Attorney-General's Chambers to handle the lawsuit filed against him by a former Malaysian Permanent Resident (PR) and his wife.

He said since the RM1O million suit also named the government as a respondent, he would have to leave it to the AG to decide.

According to a Bernama report, the minister also refused to comment on the matter since the suit has been filed in court.

Yesterday, Abdul Mutalib Taib, who has since been deported to Indonesia, filed the suit via his wife Romita Hasibuan, who is residing here, with the couple's four children.

The suit named both Abdul Mutalib and his wife as plaintiffs. Apart from seeking monetary damages for defamation, the couple are also demanding an apology for the alleged disparaging remarks made by Azmi.

According to them, the minister had described Abdul Mutalib as a 'big traitor and criminal' to Romita when she met him at the Parliament lobby on July 12.

False statements

Dismissing these statements as false, the couple claimed that Azmi had intended to injure Abdul Mutalib's (left) reputation and to 'cut him off from society' and 'expose him to hatred, contempt and ridicule'.

"Suami awak...bapa anak awak adalah...penjenayah besar, penderhaka besar, bawalah anak kamu ke Indonesia..bapa awak penjenayah besar...bapa awak...penderhaka besar..."

(Your husband...the father of your children is...a big criminal, a traitor, take your children back to Indonesia...your father is a big criminal...your father ...a big traitor)

These were the alleged remarks made by Azmi to Romita, which is said to have caused her much distress that she fainted.

Abdul Mutalib was deported to Indonesia on April 29 after his PR status was revoked by the government.

He was arrested while applying for his eldest son's identity card at the National Registration Department (NRD) in Sepang.

While being detained at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport immigration depot, the father of four was shown several orders, declarations and notices pertaining to the alleged revocation of his PR status in 1996.