PETALING JAYA: The post of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) president, which had seen a tussle since September 2019 after there was a tie in the election, has finally been resolved after one of them officially withdrew today.
Mohd Jafar Majid submitted a letter of withdrawal today to the MTUC leadership and the Registrar of Societies (RoS).
The former deputy president, who currently heads the National Union of Telekom Employees, said he is pulling out to put the national labour centre back on the right track, adding that incumbent Halim Mansor will take over the president’s post.
MTUC has been facing a leadership issue since Sept 19, 2019 after the election of committee members to lead the movement for the next three years, when the result for the post of president ended in a tie between the two.
The next election is due at the end of the year.
“The new leadership was supposed to have resolved the issue by holding a fresh election for the top post between Halim and myself. However, for reasons best known to themselves, they delayed it,” Jafar told FMT.
“With MTUC facing huge challenges from the new realities following the Covid-19 pandemic, the leadership failed to resolve the impasse on the top post despite the call by members and also the RoS.
“When it was obvious that any re-election should only involve Halim and myself, the leadership had insisted on having a re-election among all three of us again, which included Badrulzaman Mohd Gazali, the candidate who lost. We objected strongly to such a move as it was irrational.”
Jafar said Badrulzaman passed away in August last year, which meant that the only contenders now were Halim and him. Despite this, he said, the leadership had failed to hold the election which would have been much easier with just two candidates.
“To save the MTUC from going into further disrepute, I have decided to withdraw from the race, which means Halim will automatically assume the post of the president immediately. There is no need to hold any election or for the general council to make any decision on the post,” he said.
With this move, Jafar hoped that MTUC can now move forward and bring respect and dignity back to the movement, which was affected by leaving the president’s post unresolved for so long when it could have done so easily.
“My move is in the interest of the workers and the MTUC and has nothing to do with my own interest, shown by my decision to make way for Halim.”
FMT has reached out to MTUC secretary-general Kamarul Baharin Mansor for comment. - FMT
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