The New Straits Times must be congratulated for its dogged pursuit of an issue that concerns more than 100,000 members of the National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP). It was not o­nly the first - but the o­nly o­ne - to break the news regarding the suspension of the third-largest branch of the NUTP in Perak.

When the news first broke, the union president and deputy secretary-general refused to comment while the secretary-general denied any knowledge of the suspension.

But in the NST report of May 19, NUTP president and Perak branch chair Tengku Habsah Tengku Petra - in acknowledging the suspension of the Perak branch - confirmed that she and the other leaders had been less than truthful in denying this fact a week earlier. Why this need to pretend complete ignorance of what was happening?

Once again, she resorts to the usual denial, refusing to "furnish reasons" for the suspension enforced since April 19. This was justified in terms of facilitating a domestic inquiry into what must be deemed a very serious breach of conduct.

Since it was necessary to suspend "all branch committee posts", isn't it rather strange that some Perak branch committee members, who are also executive members of the union, continue to function in their other duties as national leaders?

If investigations are to be carried out impartially and fairly, then shouldn't they be considered part of the problem that caused the suspension?

This is very comical indeed. At the branch level they are guilty of some conduct - which is still kept confidential as members are still in the dark - but they assume another role as investigators because they are also national leaders.

But what is even more perplexing is the disclosure that Tengku Habsah is part of the 17-member team to administer the branch. With the branch committee is under investigation, how can she be part of the investigation committee?

What is being investigated at the Perak branch - if o­ne is to believe the numerous rumours floating around - appears to be financial irregularities involving large sums of money. Where it concerns financial mismanagement, it is a case for the police to investigate - not the union.

Shouldn't the union lodge a police report so that they can get to the bottom of the problem? In a situation when a crime is not reported, then those with knowledge of this crime must be charged for colluding with the perpetrators. What the NUTP is doing (conducting its own investigations) is highly irregular and questionable.

What kind of annual reports and statement of accounts were filed with the Registrar of Trades Union? Was the registrar misled by the NUTP? Was the information provided by the union unreliable and inaccurate?

Tengku Habsah claims that suspension was a "normal procedure of the union" and that other branches have been suspended before. We challenge her to name those branches and state the reasons for such suspensions.

It appears that the NUTP has not acted within the law. The Trades Union Act does not give it extraordinary power to act improperly. We appeal to the registrar to throw some light over this controversy.