The six-year leadership crisis at the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC), which led to legal disputes and intervention by the Registrar of Societies, has been resolved with the re-election of Halim Mansor as president.
Halim, who first became president in 2016, narrowly defeated Effendy Abdul Ghani by seven votes at a special delegates conference held over the weekend, which was ordered by the Shah Alam High Court.
Effendy was elected as president in the 2022 triennial election, which was later declared null and void by the High Court.
Halim said the long-running dispute had weakened the labour centre, resulting in MTUC losing its representation on statutory boards such as the EPF and the Social Security Organisation or Perkeso for the past six years.
“Now that the matter has finally been resolved through the court’s intervention and a legitimate election has been held, I will ensure that MTUC regains its rightful place in these statutory bodies to protect workers’ rights,” he told FMT.
“Enough is enough – the split in MTUC must be repaired. Thankfully, the election saw members from both factions elected into office, which bodes well for the organisation’s future unity.”
Halim said human resources minister Steven Sim called him immediately after the election to congratulate him and assured him that the ministry would cooperate with the new leadership to address pressing labour issues.
He also thanked the minister and former MTUC secretary-general J Solomon, who was appointed by the court to lead the special joint committee overseeing the fresh election. Halim praised Solomon for implementing the court order impartially.
Among the key office-bearers elected were Mohamed Dauzkaply as deputy president, Kamarul Baharin Mansor as secretary-general, and Bindu Patel as financial secretary.
In the 2019 election, Halim was tied with another presidential candidate, but the then secretary-general and working committee failed to resolve the impasse and sidelined Halim. The committee later disqualified him from contesting the 2022 election, claiming that he was ineligible.
This led Halim to file a lawsuit, and a year later, the Shah Alam High Court declared the 2022 election null and void, ruling that the actions taken were ultra vires the MTUC constitution.
The court granted a conditional stay of execution, allowing MTUC officials to handle only daily operations and barring them from making policy decisions, public statements, or representing MTUC in official capacities.
In February, the Court of Appeal heard a challenge by the then MTUC president against secretary-general Kamarul, with both of their 2022 elections being nullified.
All parties eventually reached a mutual agreement to form a joint special committee to run MTUC and hold a fresh election within 90 days.
