Dul Alias, who works as the Labuan Liberty Port Management (LLPM) assistant operations manager, claimed the staff were forced to take part in the peaceful picket, intended to voice objection against the possible appointment of a new operator for the Labuan Liberty Wharf.
Dul, who represented the staff, said they had submitted a memorandum supported by 80 staff members to Labuan Port Authority (LPA) chairman Chan Foong Hin telling him the picket was against the wishes of the staff.
“The memorandum was also to make known our stand that we only want to work and that we will work for any operator appointed by the LPA, whoever they may be. We are not interested in any problem between LPA and LLPM. We are just workers and concerned about our work,” he told FMT.
According to a Bernama report dated Jan 13, more than 100 LLPM staff staged the picket. Their representative Roslan Uma read out a petition while the staff held banners and placards asking the government to intervene.
“We, the LLPM staff, are strongly objecting to the LPA’s decision to allow the taking over of the Labuan Liberty Wharf by a new operator,” Roslan said when reading out the petition at Desa Tunas, Tanjung Pagar, in Labuan.
According to Dul, the staff was invited, via a memo signed by LLPM general manager Abdul Ghani Paijan, to lunch with the management at Desa Tuna for which the company arranged transport.
He claimed that after lunch, they were told about another “activity” and given placards to hold.
“We were instructed to stand on the stage and Roslan was made to read out from the statement prepared by the management – all in front of the media,” he told FMT.
FMT reached out for a comment from Ghani who said he would respond soon as he was at an important meeting.
Dul, who has been with LLPM for 13 years, claimed only 30 staff members were involved in the picket and not more than 100 as reported by the media.
He claimed one of the staff later ticked off the management for duping them.
He added that LLPM was not a full-fledged operator but only operated a container and cargo handling facility at the port’s yard and warehouse.
He said the staff handed over the memorandum to Chan at the Labuan airport.
“Chan promised that the rank and file staff like us will be absorbed 100% into any new operator appointed by the LPA,” Dul said.
Asked on the reason why they took some time to come up with the statement, he said they had earlier feared the repercussions of doing so.
Meanwhile, Chan, in a statement, denied sacking the LLPM for lodging a report against the LPA with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) over allegations of conspiracy in the tender of its containerised port.
Chan was referring to an article with the heading ”Labuan port sacks operator who reported tender conspiracy” published by FMT on Jan 19.
“Any reasonable person reading it would be misled to believe that LLPM was ‘sacked’ as port operator due to the MACC report lodged by them against LPA. That is so far from the truth,” he said, adding that no sacking took place.
“Firstly, to claim that LLPM had been ‘sacked’ after the lodging of the MACC report is confusing the sequence of events. Secondly, LLPM never had a port operating concession to begin with,” he said.
He said LLPM only had a land lease from LPA, and that it was on a month to month renewal basis, adding that the renewal was at the absolute discretion of LPA.
Bernama had reported Chan as saying that a letter of termination of the land lease had been issued to LLPM last Friday and that a new operator from outside Labuan would be appointed after the Chinese New Year holidays next week. The new company would be responsible for ensuring the operational efficiency of the container port.
Ghani had lodged a report with MACC on Dec 17, claiming there was a “leak” in the port tender result and that the port authority should be thoroughly investigated by the MACC.
Chan was quoted as saying that the port authority was prepared to be investigated, although none of its officials had been called in by the MACC so far.