Ladang Kamiri: "Victory" at Federal Court

On 18th June 2008, the Application for Leave by the Ex-Kamiri rubber tappers was turned down, with costs awarded to Guthrie by a 3-man panel at the Federal Court in Putra Jaya. But paradoxically, the 27 workers who had been retrenched in 1999 by Guthrie, were happily calling the occasion a victory, while Guthrie must be ruing the day when it decided to use its power and financial clout to take a legal short-cut to evict its former workers!

This story begins 9 years ago. These 27 former employees of Guthrie, many of whom are third generation workers with Guthrie, refused to move out their estate quarters in 2000, because they felt that the RM 330 per year of service that was offered by Guthrie as retrenchment benefits was grossly insufficient. They asked repeatedly that Guthrie meet them to discuss better terms of compensation.

Guthrie refused to meet them, or even to reply their letters. In April 2002 Guthrie engaged Skrine and Co to file eviction proceedings in the Ipoh High Court. The PSM in Sg Siput brought the retrenched workers plight to Sdr Vengkatraman Manickam of Jeyaretnam & Co, who helped the workers file a counter-claim asking Guthrie fulfill the concrete promises of permanent housing for the estate workers. These promises were made a few times in the 15 years prior to retrenchment.

Skrine applied under Order 14 of the High Court Rules for a Summary Judgement - ie a decision based on affidavit evidence alone without calling oral testimony from the workers. Our lawyer argued that a full trial with oral evidence is required to set to the basic facts relating to the promises made and the expectations of housing created by Guthrie. However the Hon Justice Dato VT Singam of Ipoh High Court 2 ruled that "even I have to vacate my house when I retire." According to the learned judge, when the contract of employment ceases, the workers right to occupy the house provided by the employer ceases, and they should comply with Guthrie’s demand to vacate. The workers then brought their case to the Appeal Court where once again Skrine’s arguments prevailed. We lost again, with costs awarded to Guthrie.

The workers then decided to bring their matter to the Federal Court. They arrived in a bus at about 8.40 am, accompanied by Sdr Sukumaran, the Secretary of the PSM Sg Siput branch. Sdr Letchumanan, its Treasurer, and Sdri Sarasvathy, the National Deputy Chairperson of the PSM. Dr Jeyakumar, the PSM Wakil Rakyat joined them in Court a little later.

The Guthrie matter was the first that the Federal Court dealth with on 18/6/08. "Where are the questions? What are the issues of law that you are trying to bring here?" the Federal Court Judges asked of our lawyer. Sdr Vengkat explained that the issue of the rights of retrenched workers who are still waiting for fulfillment of promises made by their employer has not yet been decided in the Federal Court. "This involves more than just the 27 workers of Ldg Kamiri my Lords, there many hundreds more estate workers who are caught in a similar situation - facing summary eviction despite having worked in that estate for 3 generations. This matter has to be considered in conjunction with Article 5 of the Federal Constitution which relates to the Right to Life."

The Skrine lawyer, Ms Claudia, then addressed the Court. "Policemen and military personnel also have to relinquish their quarters when they leave the service," she said at a point. But the Federal Court Judges did not seem impressed with Skrine’s arguement. Perhaps they kept in mind the fact that policemen can take a housing loan from the government, and in any case receive pension when they retire. Also the policemen’s pay is higher than that of estate workers. "So you want to push them out to the streets do you Claudia?" asked Justice Richard Malanjum who was presiding over the judicial panel that day.

His Lordship then quoted another section of the Rules of High Court which says that a Summary Judgement obtained under that Order 14 cannot be enforced until all the issues related to the same matter have been settled. ‘Mr Manickam, go and get a stay based on this," the Judge advised. "Go and resolve the issues relating to the factual situation first. Your matter has not ripened yet to be brought to the Federal Court."

When the Skrine lawyers asked for costs, His Lordship remarked "These are poor workers." He then asked the Skrine lawyers whether the RM 500 deposit paid to the Federal Court on filing the case would suffice. Skrine agreed to this, though the legal costs charged to Guthrie for this Federal Court appearance would probably be in excess of RM 50,000!

Today the Federal Court, in its deliberations before denying Leave, expressed an opinion that the Guthrie workers should not be summarily evicted without considering all the relevant matters in their counter-claim. This endorses what the workers have been asking for all along - that they will not move out until they have the opportunity to tell their side of the story in Court. The Malaysian Legal System did not allow an enormously wealthy Plantation Giant to summarily evict its former workers until they have had their say in Court. So though we "lost" the Leave Application, our position has been endorsed by the Federal Court Judges.

For the Kamiri ex-workers this was a big step forward, after having this basic request denied at the High Court and at the Appeals Court. "We will continue our struggle in Court and outside to get fairer terms of compensation," said Sdr Kanniah, the former union leader of this group of workers. "The fate of many more estate workers in this country depends on the outcome of our struggle!" Many of the Kamiri workers went up to shake hands and express their heartfelt thanks to Sdr Vengkat who has been handling their legal matters on a pro-bono basis for the past 6 years.

The Malaysian system is skewed against ordinary people. But the people of Kamiri estate have shown that, with some support from lawyers and activists the people can fight back and uphold their rights. Salam Perjuangan!!

Kumar