I read with great sadness Baradan Kuppusamy's letter on the delay in Justice Harun Hashim's judgment and the hardship that ensued. Justice delayed is justice denied.

I have had great respect for the late High Court judge who, with his cutting edge judicial pronouncements, had proved his mettle in many important cases. However, this sad episode would be blot on his clean slate.

Several years ago, a few worker friends of mine came to see me. They, too, were on the daily wage system. It was during the Deepavali season when, for some cruel reason, the rain show its colours. I advised them to seek the help of local and parent unions, as I thought the union would be well disposed to handle and settle the matter.

It was actually a simple matter, or so I thought. Section 16 (EA 1955) already spelt out that workers are to be provided the minimum 24 days' wages. However, it later dawned on me that the National Union of Plantation Workers and the local union did not have the will nor the urgency to tackle this matter.

The government of the day too, gave many excuses against implementing this section. Mind you, this piece of legislation was from the colonial days, and yet seemed better than the government of the day and the unions.

When my friends decided to take the matter to the Industrial Court, the hostility was not only from the union but also from fellow workers who thought that acting above the union is to antagonise the entire community. It is against all odds that my friends took legal action and won.

Luckily for them, there was no appeal. Had the union acted several years ago, we need not have waited so many years for a conclusion on the matter. It was the day I lost trust and confidence in NUPW. Betrayal is written all over them.

As for Harun Hashim, although he gave a favourable judgment, it had become academic. Had he delivered the judgment 21 years ago, he would have been heartily worshipped by the the estate workers. He could have made history.

Where the MIC leaders failed, where this government failed, and where the union had miserably failed, he could have made the difference. But, alas, he too, failed. Thanks to Baradan for highlighting this matter. May the courage of the sole tapper who decided to challenge the system be remembered by sane thinking human beings.