The Malaysian Trades Union Congress will hold its triennial delegates conference (TDC) tomorrow, amid accusations of misconduct by its top leadership and financial discrepancies.
Among the accusations, which come from a faction rivalling the MTUC leadership, is that secretary-general Kamarul Baharin Mansor had violated the congress' constitution by calling for the TDC.
However, Kamarul Baharin said the decision to hold the TDC tomorrow was made through a majority vote at the general meeting on March 20.
The congress has also received the go-ahead from the Registrar of Societies, he said.
Further, the faction led by unionist Halim Mansor, who is claiming to be the rightful president, today failed to obtain an injunction to stop the congress tomorrow.
"MTUC has met with the ROS to seek its views and advice on a complaint by Halim Mansor, who has challenged the integrity of the TDC.
"The ROS stated the general meeting is the highest decision-making body, among the two conferences.
"As such, MTUC will proceed with the conference as decided at the general meeting as there are no court orders to stop the conference from proceeding," Kamarul Baharin said in a statement.
He added that Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has also agreed to attend the TDC, and it should be viewed as a recognition of MTUC's work in the struggle for workers' rights.
However, in a separate statement, MTUC general council member A Sivananthan said the PM should stay away from the TDC to avoid being seen as condoning alleged violations by the MTUC leadership.
He said the TDC is "illegal" among others because the MTUC constitution states it can only be convened during the period of October to December.
‘Audited accounts not provided’
Sivananthan said the delegates were also not provided audited statements of accounts for the years 2020, 2021 and 2022 while other financial reports required have not been presented to the General Council.
He also said there were discrepancies in the balance sheet, "which is a misrepresentation of the financial statement".
"All the violations stated above were carried out without the approval of the ROS, unlike during the previous term when the ROS directed that only the election be held due to the pandemic.
"The many violations by the MTUC leadership give the impression that the election of the principal office-bearers has taken precedence over other matters.
"Even the scheduled attendance and the address of the prime minister at this conference was not tabled at any of the General Council meetings," Sivananthan said.
Malaysiakini has contacted Kamarul Baharin for comment on the allegations and is awaiting his response.
Earlier today, Shah Also High Court judge Khadijah Idris dismissed Halim's application to stop the TDC with costs, thus paving the way for the two-day conference to go on as scheduled. - Mkini
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