I agree with the director of Tenaganita, Irene Fernandez, in her critique of the decision of the Industrial Court, sitting in Selangor, in the case of the 54 Indonesian workers' claim for unpaid wages.

The governing law of the Industrial Court is the Industrial Relations Act. That Act has a provision stating that the court 'shall act according to equity, good conscience and the substantial merits of the case without regard to technicalities and legal form' (Section 30[5]).

This makes our Industrial Court a very special court. It has powers not to overly emphasise the letter of the written law but deal with the complaints as rules of natural justice dictate.

It is an injustice that a Malaysian employer has gained from the exercise at the expense of the 54 workers. The workers had in good faith entered into a bargain to work for wages. They have, to all intents and purposes, fulfilled their end of the bargain.

Thus the decision to dismiss the rightful claim of the 54 workers reeks of bad faith and must be reviewed.

I hope the authorities would investigate MK Land, the employers for wrongdoing. It is iniquitous to allow them to get away so easily by citing illegality.

Their hands in the parlance of principles of equity are unclean. They cannot cite illegality after making a gain or having profited from the whole exercise.