According to MTUC sources, Halim’s lawyers filed the affidavit on Tuesday together with an emergency certificate and they were expecting the court to make a decision tomorrow. Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob is scheduled to open the TDC.
The group, which also sent a letter to the Registrar of Societies (RoS) on the same day, is claiming that the MTUC leadership had violated the congress’ constitution by not adhering to the requirements needed before calling for the TDC.
In the letter to the RoS, the contents of which were also included in the affidavit, Halim, who claimed to be the rightful president, said the TDC should have been called only between October and December of the third year of any three-year term, as stipulated in the constitution.
“Unless the RoS had allowed the TDC to be brought forward, it cannot be called earlier than scheduled according to the constitution. In this case, they failed to do that. The dates for the conference must also be agreed upon by the general council, but this was also not done,” he said, according to the letter sighted by FMT.
Halim, who was tied for the president’s post with his challenger in 2019 but claimed it was his after Mohd Jafar Majid withdrew three months ago, said the MTUC secretary-general had also failed to ensure the audited annual statement of accounts, general council reports and the TDC agenda were sent to members 14 days before the conference.
He said there were also discrepancies in the acceptance and rejection of nominations for the 2022-2025 leadership elections which were not in accordance with the congress’ constitution.
Halim, who was the president for the 2016-2019 term, is also the secretary-general of the National Union of Petroleum and Chemical Industry Workers Peninsular Malaysia. He is being backed by several other MTUC affiliates in this action.
When contacted, Halim confirmed that his lawyers had filed the injunction and hoped the court would look at the constitutional violations that his group had pointed out.
He said he had also written a letter to MTUC secretary-general Kamarul Baharin Mansor complaining about the “unconstitutional” handling of nominations for the elections, among others.
FMT has reached out to Kamarul for comment.
In May, “incumbent” Halim sought a court declaration that he was the rightful president after Jafar, who polled the same number of votes as him in the last election, withdrew from the race.
However, Kamarul called for a general council meeting shortly after and declared that Halim was not the president and that the post was still vacant.