NGO chief 'owes workers RM220,000 in wages'

A group of daily wage workers were shocked to see their former employer, who allegedly owes them some RM200,000, appear on TV and in newspapers recently after participating in an ‘illegal’ motorbike rally at the state legislative assembly building.

The rally involved more than 200 motorbikers (mat rempit) who demanded a race track but wore yellow T-shirts screaming ‘LGE (Lim Guan Eng) racist’ and ‘Save Penang’.

One of the workers, Robert Tay, came to the state assembly yesterday and met his ex-boss, Sabarudin Ahmad, the president of Pertubuhan Islam Gabungan Amal (Per3) - who supposedly led the rally and was later arrested by the police - asking him to make good what he owed to them.

Sabarudin was a subcontractor for the construction of a new building for a major German investor in Penang.

Yesterday, Sabarudin, with 10 others from Per3, held a press conference at the state opposition office in the state assembly to deny that the NGO was part of the protesters who wore yellow T-shirts.

Since Tay did not get a positive response from Sabarudin yesterday, he came to the Dewan today to meet Lim’s special assistant Jeffrey Chew, to ask for help to get their money.

Chew then arranged a press conference for the workers at the state assembly, accompanied by Dato Keramat assemblyperson Jagdeep Singh Deo.

Police report against Sabarudin

According to Tay, Sabarudin is still owing the workers their half-month salary for July, which collectively amounted to RM220,000.

Tay said the workers had lodged a report against Sabarudin at the Jalan Pattani police station but no action had been forthcoming until now.

He added that Sabarudin “had gone missing” since August after failing to pay their salaries, but thanks to the events in the last few days, the latter had resurfaced.

“We would like to ask Sabarudin how he can help settle our issue? We are not interested in his politics but since Umno helped him by allowing him to call a press conference in its room, can the party assist us as well?” Tay asked.

“I fail to understand how Sabarudin can spend time supporting a useless cause when he can’t take care of his employees,” he added.

“We have families to feed. How come you can spend so much time demonstrating and yet you cannot see our sufferings?” he asked Sabarudin.

In August, 80 contract workers, including Tay,  lodged a police report against Sabarudin, assisted by Chew and Komtar assemblyperson Ng Wei Aik, who is also Lim’s political secretary.

Tay claimed that due to the salary problem, the workers were asked to leave.

Per3 chief urged to pay workers

Of the 80 workers, 39 are locals and the rest foreigners, mostly Bangladeshis aged between 39-41 years, he further said.

Teh and the other workers then approached the state government for help and a discussion was held with the group.

Following the meeting, the subcontractor promised to pay their dues but until now, no payment has been forthcoming.

When contacted, Sabarudin denied the allegations, saying he has settled the matter with the workers, who, he said, total around 150.

He claimed that the police has questioned him and found that the allegations were baseless.

He said that it was only these 80 workers who were not satisfied with his clarification on the matter.

He accused the state government, led by DAP, for “instructing” (arah) the workers to hold a press conference against him.

“If this issue is publicised, I will take action against the state government,” he added.

“This is DAP’s conspiracy to damage my reputation,” he stressed.

When asked, Jagdeep said he had advised the workers to follow up with the Labour Department  before seeking a legal remedy to their problem.

Meanwhile, Chew urged Sabarudin to pay up what he owed, otherwise he would set a bad example as a subcontractor company in Penang.

“Some of the workers have other jobs but several have gone back to their hometowns broken-hearted and vowed never to return to Penang to work,” he said.

“If this cannot be resolved, other subcontractors and workers would lose confidence in Penang and that would be bad for our investment climate,” he added.