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Campaigning has started in earnest with main rivals plus a splinter group busy
making their rounds to the nine NUBE branches peninsula-wide.
<p>The election seeks to end a four-year leadership impasse between two main factions
led respectively by Abdul Jalil Hamid and J Solomon, and Muhammad Fauzi Shamsuddin
and Mohd Noor Basir.</p>
<p>Contacted yesterday, Director-General of Trades Union (DGTU) Mohd Zubir Mohd
Basri said a meeting with the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) earlier
today had discussed matters pertaining to the NUBE polls.</p>
<p>"We’ve already explained to the MTUC some of the complaints raised by
NUBE members whose main grouse was alleged discrepancies in the voters list,"
he said.</p>
<p>"As I’ve said before, we will update the list accordingly," he added.</p>
<p>Two weeks ago, the banking sector union members in the Kuala Lumpur branch
had raised a stink over the hassle posed by having separate polling and triennial
general meeting (TGM) venues.</p>
<p><b>Larger venues unavailable</b></p>
<p>Mohd Zubir said it was unavoidable because other larger venues were unavailable
for that day.</p>
<p>"We checked Wisma MCA but it was still under renovation. We even tried
Putra World Trade Centre but it was booked for another function.</p>
<p>"I understand their concern given the large KL branch membership but it’s
not as if we didn’t try other venues before deciding on the present arrangement,"
he added.</p>
<p>As per the schedule, KL members will cast their votes at the Human Resources
Ministry’s industrial training institute at Jalan Kuchai Lama near Old Klang
Road while the TGM will be at Menara PGRM in Cheras later that night.</p>
<p>He said members will have to sacrifice a little because the 600-capacity institute
will not be able to accommodate all the KL members.</p>
<p>Mohd Zubir said the complaints over postal ballots and polling venues in other
states will be resolved before polling day.</p>
<p>Contacted later, MTUC president Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud said the meeting went
well with an undertaking by the DGTU that his department will ensure a smooth
election.</p>
<p>Following an April 20 order by the Court of Appeal for the DGTU to conduct
fresh elections, the MTUC set up a five-member election watch committee to monitor
the proceedings closely.</p>
<p>They are Syed Shahir, his deputy Abdul Halim Mansor, general-secretary G Rajasekaran,
and vice-presidents Mohd Khalid Atan and Indera Putra Ismail.</p>
<p>Syed Shahir said the committee will monitor the conduct of the NUBE election
"from start to finish".</p>
<p>"We have written a letter to the DGTU listing nine key issues raised by
the NUBE membership for serious consideration and action," he said, adding
that the letter was sent early this week.</p>
<p>More than 500 names were reportedly missing from the membership list, sparking
off concerns over the transparency and fairness of the electoral process.</p>
<p>Only those registered as NUBE members as at Oct 31 2001 – about 23,000 – will
be eligible to vote next month.
Address: Wisma MTUC,10-5, Jalan USJ 9/5T, 47620 Subang Jaya,Selangor | Tel: 03-80242953 | Fax: 03-80243225 | Email: sgmtuc@gmail.com.com