The Malaysian Insight

FOURTEEN employees of Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia (DPMM) have not been paid since August, sources said.

The sources said the delay was due to the leadership crisis which was finally resolved with intervention from the Registrar of Societies early last month.

The power struggle between Rizal Faris Mohideen Abdul Kader and Syed Hussein Alhabshee had resulted in the body being suspended in mid August.

DPMM’s accounts were frozen, enabling the trade body to pay its staff partial salaries only.

“However even after RoS has resolved the leadership issue and the new team has taken over on September 4, we find that the staff were still not paid their full salaries for September and now October.

“This has caused so much of hardship for the employees,” the source told The Malaysian Insight.

The source said four of the 14 employees owed their pay had resigned in September.

“Of these four, two did not get paid at all in August. The other two were not paid in September,” said the source.

Another source said DPMM’s top leadership had given its word on September 4 to settle all outstanding salaries within two weeks.

“It all remains an empty promise. Till today the staff have yet to be paid,” he said.

He said some of the employees were given a partial payment of RM250.

“Some of the employees are borrowing money from family and friends to survive. They are also being chased by the banks for loan repayments.

“They really have to tighten their belt to survive.”

When contacted, the DPMM leadership said the salary arrears would be sorted out this week.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court on September 5 ruled that Syed Hussein was the rightful president of DPMM

Justice Mariana Yahaya made the ruling after endorsing a notice by the RoS to validate the dismissal of Rizal as DPMM president.

The September 4 notice said Rizal’s dismissal was effective November 22 last year following the decision reached during an extraordinary general meeting called by 18 DPMM members.

The notice said all decisions made at the commerce chamber’s annual general meeting (AGM) later that day were invalid. This included Rizal’s claim to the presidency and the revocation of the 18 memberships.

The notice also said that a subsequent AGM on June 15, in which Syed Hussein was elected president, was valid, as well as all decisions originating from it. – October 1, 2019.