The two factions in the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) and a 20-member caretaker committee have until Friday to decide if they can agree to the Kuala Lumpur High Court's suggestion to end a deadlock on the holding of fresh polls.

The crisis is centred around two key officials, J Solomon and Muhammad Fauzi Shamsuddin, who have been leading the two groups respectively since the split within the national executive committee in late 2001.

The Malay Mail , quoting Justice Raus Sharif, reported today that both of them may have to stand on the sidelines if and when fresh elections are conducted, provided the parties concerned accept his suggestion.

Raus, of the High Court (Special Powers and Appellate Division), gave the parties up to Friday to agree on appointing two non-controversial figures each from the two factions as part of the caretaker committee to handle the polls.

(The caretaker committee was appointed from among ordinary NUBE members last February at a delegates conference organised by the Malaysian Trades Union Congress to end the protracted dispute that has brought the union's operations almost to a standstill).

Contacted today, lawyer Zainur Zakaria, who represents Muhammad Fauzi's group, said they would most probably ask for an extension of time to consider the judge's suggestion.

"Whatever it is, we will have to consult the judge on Friday. It is up to him to decide," he said.

The caretaker committee sought a court order to empower the Director-General of Trade Union (DGTU) to conduct fresh polls involving 28,000 members of NUBE. The DGTU and the two groups have been named as respondents.

The NUBE has been embroiled in a leadership tussle for more than three years with no solution in sight because both factions insist that they are the legitimate executive committee line-up. This has led to a series of court cases that are pending decisions.

Legal arguments

According to the Malay Mail report, Raus' suggestion was in response to Senior Federal Counsel Azizah Nawawi who argued that the court could neither empower the DGTU to call for union elections nor direct him to do so.

But Ambiga Sreenivasan, counsel for the caretaker committee, was quoted insisting that the DGTU had the power to call for elections under Section 4A of the Trade Unions Act, which she said afforded him wide powers to do whatever is necessary to enforce the provisions.

She reportedly argued that a court order directing the DGTU to intervene would also prevent allegations of bias.

However, Zakaria and co-counsel D Kalai said only a legitimate union executive committee is entitled to call for an election.

Since Raus had ruled last October that both factions were illegal, the executive committee as at Nov 2 should be empowered to run the elections. This line-up would exclude Solomon.

Sivarasa Rasiah, counsel for Solomon's group, was quoted as saying that a neutral party was needed to run the elections. However, he could not be reached for comments today.