VIDEO | 1.17 min

Police have summoned all members of the National Union of Bank Employees (Nube) to the Segamat district police headquarters for picketing against caretaker Human Resources Minister Dr S Subramaniam.

The police want to record statements from all of the more than 150 Nube members who took part in the picket in Segamat yesterday and today, the union's secretary-general J Solomon said.

"That is what they told me this morning, so I have brought all my members here," Solomon said at the Segamat district police headquarters.

Nube deputy secretary-general A Karuna said police had visited them at their lodgings this morning and said they wanted to record the statements of all union members who took part in the picket.

NONE "We told them that this was harassment, and we left for our picket at 11am," Karuna said.

"When we carried out our picket, the police demanded that we disperse and they even deployed a Light Strike Force unit.

"The said they will use force if we did not disperse, so we did because we did not want to subject our members to any violence," she added.

All the Nube members in the picket were at the Segamat district police headquarters, queuing up in two lines for their statements to be taken.

Police recorded statements from part of the group for three hours - beginning 2.30pm - but later told the rest that they could leave.

Speaking to the press later, Solomon said that the police recorded their statements because of a police report which was lodged against them.

'Picket ended for safety reasons'

He added that the police had expressed concern that if the picket continued, it will create tension between BN supporters and picketers.

"In view of that, the police advised us to defer our picket until after the general election.

NONE "After discussing with our members, we have decided for the safety of our members, and to avoid untoward incidents, that we will stop our picket," he said.

Solomon added that Nube had already successfully conveyed their message to the people of Segamat during its two-day picket here.

Nube has vowed to ensure that Subramaniam - who is defending his Segamat parliamentary seat - is defeated for allegedly being "anti-worker and anti-union". Subramaniam has since vehemently denied the claim.

The union is, among others, upset at Subramaniam for supporting an inhouse union by Maybank, which it says is aimed at diluting Nube's powers.

"Subramaniam says that 4,500 Maybank staff supported the inhouse union; that is untrue unless they are phantoms because when the inhouse union was registered, there were only 6,000 staff and 5,300 of those were already Nube members," he said.

He claimed that Subramaniam had also misled the International Labour Organisation (ILO) by claiming that the High Court had decided in favour of the inhouse union, when the case had not yet been decided.

'Nube lodges three police reports'

Karuna said Nube had also lodged three police reports, the first one directed at BN for its counter-protest yesterday - which did not have a permit, and which they say is aimed at intimidating the union.

"The second report is on a campaign billboard which had a list of unions that purportedly support Subramaniam.

NONE "This contravenes Section 59 of the Trade Union Act that prevents unions from supporting any political candidate," she said.

The third police report, Karuna ( left ) noted, is also against BN supporters who she said had been at Nube's second picket today to intimidate them.

"They were trying to direct the police on what to do, but the police (just) did their jobs. However, after a while they made us to disperse.

"We are saying that Subramaniam is using his political influence to suppress our rights to picket," she claimed.

The Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) representatives were also present to show support.

"We oppose the police interference, workers have a right to picket under the law and there is no reason for them to interfere.

"We will take this up with the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam)," said MTUC secretary-general N Gopal.