The judicial review scheduled to be heard in the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Monday will only be the first of many legal obstacles the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) must clear in order to settle a bitter leadership dispute.

The faction led by Abdul Jalil Hamid (photo) is seeking to reverse a decision by Director-General of Trade Union (DGTU) Zulkifly Abdullah to recognise the rival faction led by Muhammad Fauzi Shamsuddin.

"The hearing is expected to be completed and the decision delivered on Monday because the matter is a simple and urgent one," said lawyer D Kalai, who represents Fauzi's group.

If the decision is in Abdul Jalil's favour, it will not have any immediate material effect in determining the leadership of the union.

"This is because (Abdul Jalil's) group will first have to revert to procedure in officially registering itself as the legitimate exco," Kalai (right) said. This will involve amending the DGTU's records.

If Abdul Jalil's faction fails in its bid on Monday, then Fauzi will not be automatically declared the new NUBE leader either, for two reasons:

  • Abdul Jalil's faction may choose to appeal the decision.
  • Fauzi's faction is still required to respond to another legal matter before they can take office.

This involves a committal proceeding for contempt of court. Fauzi's faction will be required to explain to the Court of Appeal its reasons for not complying with a stay order and injunction that Abdul Jalil's group obtained on May 8 last year.

(The stay order was over a May 2 High Court judgment that required J Solomon to refer his expulsion to arbitration, while the injunction was obtained to reinstate Solomon as general secretary of the union.)

The DGTU, however, failed to include his (Solomon's) name in the records. It was also alleged that Mohd Nor Basir, the general secretary in Fauzi's group, knew about this and did not act.

While the Court of Appeal set aside the stay order and vacated the injunction in July last year upon application by Fauzi's faction, the charge of contempt still have to be answered. The date for the proceedings has not been set.

Parallel problems

Pending disposal of the court cases, the Human Resources Ministry started a parallel mediation process in August under a special task-force.

The three-member committee comprises the ministry's secretary-general Dr Mohd Yahya Nordin, Labour director-general Ismail Abdul Rahim and the DGTU.

However, it has been criticised for barely being able to produce results to date. Apart from agreeing on the need to hold a re-election, the two factions are at loggerheads over everything else.

Fauzi (photo) said the task-force is now working on a fresh proposal, which will require office-bearers from both camps to quit their posts to enable the ministry to set up an interim exco.

The interim exco, comprising an equal number of office-bearers from both sides, will act as a caretaker until a new election can be held.

"But the problem (with this idea) is that the ministry is not legally empowered to (intervene directly). We fear that this could lead to endless litigation," Fauzi said when contacted today.

"For this reason, I feel the decision is best left to the court. If both sides can agree on that, there would probably be no need for a task-force. In any case, it has no legal authority to intervene or to act on our behalf."

Fauzi also said he had rejected the latest proposal by Abdul Jalil's group, made last Saturday at a meeting with the task-force. Among other points, it agreed to reinstating the pre-crisis exco but specifically for the purpose of handling the re-election process.

Contacted today for a response, Solomon said his group was waiting for the outcome of the task force's discussions with Fauzi's group on the proposal.