MTUC may bid to have other pacts declassified

The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) is considering to request access to classified government documents on toll concessionaires and independent power producers (IPPs)

This comes after yesterday’s landmark decision where the High court ordered the government to disclose the contents of the audit report and water concession agreement entered between itself, the Selangor government and Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) within seven days.

This kind of documents are still classified as confidential under the Official Secrets Act and out of the public domain.

MTUC president S yed Shahir Syed Mohamud (right) , who was one of the applicants in the decision, told Malaysiakini that yesterday’s landmark judgment has opened avenues for the workers union to file other applications for the benefit of workers and consumers.

“MTUC wants to ensure that there is transparency in the agreements signed, as they should not benefit or see one party reaping huge profits at the expense of consumers,” he said.

“The government or such businesses should not hide under the Official Secrets Act.

“This landmark judgment is just the beginning. We are also studying the possibility of making similar applications on the possibly the toll concessionaires and the IPPs which are also affecting workers and the general public.”

Government must be transparent

“If we look at tolls, the toll charges increase almost every year and similarly, with IPPs we need to know if this is profiting certain groups of people,” he said.

“MTUC wants the government to be transparent and not see those agreements benefit only a few.”

He said it is M TUC’s responsibility as an NGO to look after the affairs of the workers and hopes lawmakers in Parliament would support the MTUC’s cause when such applications are filed – as they should support freedom of information in a civil society.

“Access to clean water supply is a basic right of every consumer and hence, we should be given access to such documents as it concerns our rights,” Syed Shahir said.

Yesterday, Kuala Lumpur High Court Judicial Commissioner Hadhariah Syed Ismail ruled that the government’s refusal to disclose the report and agreement was counter to the principles of good governance, accountability and transparency and that the interests of the rakyat should come first.

Committee mooted to study documents

Asked to comment on what MTUC would do after getting the documents, Syed Shahir said the workers union would consider forming a committee to study the agreement.

“We will let our lawyers arrange for us to get the documents first from the respondents,” he said.

Syed Shahir said as the agreement and audit report could be technical, specialists from the legal sector and also accountants may be needed to look into the explanations given for increases in the water tariff.

Syed Shahir and 13 others were spurred to file the application following the government’s decision to allow Syabas to raise the water tariff by 15 per cent in 2006 for areas within Selangor, Putrajaya and the Federal Territory (Kuala Lumpur).