Halim seeks court order to declare he is MTUC president

 

Halim Mansor (left) is seeking a declaration that MTUC secretary-general Kamarul Baharin Mansor had failed to adhere to the congress’ constitution and has deprived him of the president’s post.

PETALING JAYA: The fight for the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) presidency has now gone to the courts, with “incumbent” Halim Mansor seeking a declaration that he is the rightful head now that his challenger, who polled the same number of votes as him in the last election, has withdrawn from the race.

Halim, who was the incumbent president before the last MTUC polls in September 2020, named Kamarul Baharin Mansor as the defendant in his capacity as MTUC’s secretary-general in the suit filed last month.

He declared himself the rightful president under the MTUC constitution after his challenger, Mohd Jafar Majid, withdrew from the race for the disputed post in March.

However, Kamarul called for a general council meeting shortly after and declared that Halim was not the president and that the post was still vacant.

In the suit sighted by FMT, Halim claimed that he was the rightful president following Jafar’s withdrawal as he was the only contender left for the post.

“I was the president for the 2017-2019 term and should have continued in the position for the 2020-2022 term as no one won the post outright in the last election. This is in accordance with Clause 7(13) of the MTUC constitution,” he said.

In the election, Halim and Jafar obtained 136 votes each while the third contender, Nor Azlan Yaacob, received 102 votes. The Registrar of Societies (RoS) had asked for a fresh election to be held but it had not been done so far.

Hailm is seeking a declaration that he should be allowed to carry out all the duties of the president in accordance with the standing orders of the congress until the next election, due later this year.

He is also asking the court to declare all three general council meetings, which is the highest decision-making body of MTUC, called by Kamarul to be declared null and void as they were held ultra vires the body’s constitution.

“I am also seeking a declaration by the court that Kamarul has failed to adhere to the constitutional clauses in running MTUC thus far,” he said.

He said the RoS had been officially informed that Jafar had withdrawn from the race.

Meanwhile, MTUC sources said the current leadership has called for the triennial delegates conference in July to elect the office bearers for the 2022-2024 term despite not having resolved the current impasse. - FMT