Malaysia is one of Asia's biggest employers of foreign labour. But recently, cases of deaths, abuse and forced labour have come to light. What is going on? Who is protecting these migrant workers?
Countering
general secretary J Solomon’s comments that the exco had approved the project,
he pointed out details had not been tabled for the RM1.9 million contract.
<P>“The
general plans to renovate, yes, the exco had agreed to it. But after that, no
further details were tabled, such as plans to advertise and announce the tenders,
invite quotations, to set up building and finance committees,” he said.</P><P>He
said questions immediately arose in his mind when he saw the four quotations submitted
by various contractors.</P><P>“One quotation was from a certain ‘Anand’.
Another quotation was from an ‘Ananand.’ Furthermore, one quotation
cited RM2 million, while another cited more than RM2 million. When I saw these
things, I started to question,” said Abdul Jalil.</P><P>Asked if he had plans
to bring in his brother’s friend as the selected contractor, he denied the
allegation saying: “He was somebody who was only offering his services. There
was no quotation (from him).”</P><P>This was one of two main issues behind
another leadership crisis in NUBE, following a four-year tussle at the top that
was finally resolved through the courts. Abdul Jalil was then elected president,
but was expelled on July 28.</P><P>He has since lodged a police report against
the 19-member exco, alleging financial irregularities and abuse of power.</P><P>In
answer to Solomon’s claim that personal grievances had driven his actions,
Abdul Jalil said his “only interest is for the truth to come out”.</P><P><B>Size
of delegation</B></P><P>Abdul Jalil also denied the claim that he had turned against
the exco for leaving him out of study trip to Australia and New Zealand in July,
saying he did not feel slighted.</P><P>However, he maintained his allegation that
the proposal had not been tabled to the exco and that “a certain official”
had approved a RM40,000 for the trip. He only found out about the trip when an
exco member informed him.</P><P>Abdul Jalil further questioned as to why the Nube
delegation was so large.</P><P>“Three or four officers would have been enough
… and they could in turn brief the others about what they had learned. Why did
they have to take 10 people?” he asked.</P><P>On his alleged lack of enthusiasm
for attending Nube courses – cited as a factor for his exclusion – he said this
may have been true towards the end of his tenure as president when things “had
already turned sour between him and the general secretary”.</P><P>However,
he insisted this “has nothing to do with the issue”.</P><P>Abdul Jalil,
who had been removed as the Penang branch chairperson on July 19, denied that
his differences with the branch committee derived from its refusal to accept his
brother as a member.</P><P>“I did propose my brother when a position became
vacant, but accepted it when told that the time was not right.”</P><P>A month
later, on June 15, two names were proposed for committee membership, but Abdul
Jalil objected to the admission of more non-Malay members.</P><P>“I have
heard many complaints that, although Malays make up 70 percent of the union’s
membership, the branch committees and exco are made up predominantly of non-Malays.
This is what I objected to. That’s all,” he said.</P><P>However, he
added that the incident may have caused relationships to deteriorate.
Address: Wisma MTUC,10-5, Jalan USJ 9/5T, 47620 Subang Jaya,Selangor | Tel: 03-80242953 | Fax: 03-80243225 | Email: sgmtuc@gmail.com.com