Former MTUC sec-gen claims current leaders 'hide everything' from general council
Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) former secretary-general N Gopal Kishnam has claimed that the current leadership is hiding everything from the union's general council.
"During my time, we received the same kind of letter based on a complaint from one affiliate...
Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) former secretary-general N Gopal Kishnam has claimed that the current leadership is hiding everything from the union's general council.
"During my time, we received the same kind of letter based on a complaint from one affiliate.
"I did not hide the letter from the general council, and answered all queries accordingly.
"The issue right now, (MTUC president) Abdul Halim Mansor and (MTUC secretary-general) J Solomon hide everything from the general council.
"Until today, they have never discussed the first show cause letter sent to them a few months ago," Gopal (above) said to Malaysiakini when contacted today.
He explained that the letter received by MTUC during his time as secretary-general was over the lack of a finance committee meeting every month, which is a constitutional requirement. At that time, they only had four meetings within eight months.
Gopal said the MTUC now must have an immediate meeting with the Registrar of Societies (ROS) and strictly follow their advice.
In an immediate response to Gopal, Solomon (above) said they have nothing to hide and claimed that they are more transparent and honest than the former secretary-general.
He went on to allege that the accounting of the MTUC funds was not completely transparent during his predecessor's era.
"So ask him to shut up, or I will disclose more of his wrongdoings during his tenure as secretary-general," Solomon told Malaysiakini.
He also said they will have a press conference on this ROS matter soon.
Malaysiakini has attempted to contact Halim over this matter and is awaiting his response.
The ROS had earlier confirmed that it has suspended the MTUC, following a probe brought on by complaints it received on July 2, alleging poor management of the union umbrella body.
The ROS had said on Dec 18 that it had issued a notice giving the MTUC 30 days to explain why it should not be deregistered.
The suspension was to ensure that no other rules were broken by the MTUC pending the explanation.
Last week, Sarawak MTUC secretary Andrew Lo (above) made a serious claim that the MTUC had not convened a full general council meeting ever since the elections of the current top officials in 2016.
Another union source also told Malaysiakini that the MTUC leadership had, in fact, received a show-cause letter from the ROS about two months ago for its failure to conduct meetings as prescribed.
The Human Resources Ministry has since offered to help resolve the MTUC's suspension.
Halim had thanked the ministry's for its offer, but then said the union never received a call from the Human Resources Minister M Kula Segaran as the offer to help was only made through a press statement.
Former MTUC president Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud also told Malaysiakini that during his tenure, they did not face such issues with the ROS.
"During my time, as far as I remember, we did not face such a thing from the ROS.
"Having dealings with the ROS is normal. Sometimes we send letters to the ROS office to get explanations or clarification about several matters.
"I do not think the MTUC will be deregistered," he said.
Meanwhile, Lo told Malaysiakini today that if the suspension order from the ROS was true, the registrar should take action against the "rogue officials" and not the organisation.
"If there are any discrepancies or any issues or any failures by MTUC, then the registrar should take action against the officials, but not deregister the organisation.
"The organisation should not be made to pay for the shenanigans of some rogue officials," he added.
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