SUBANG JAYA: The internal tussle within the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Association of Malaysia has widened, with both sides lodging reports with both the police and Registrar of Societies (ROS).
Both Ding Hong Sing, the association's president, and the secretary-general, Chin Chee Seong, have held press conferences to address the accusations made against each other.
On Tuesday (April 30), Chin and several council members spoke to the media for the first time in response to Ding's allegations.
Denying Ding's accusations, which include claims of collusion and attempts to seize control of the association's leadership, they said they had always shown respect to him during his three-year tenure as president.
“It was only his behaviour and actions since the beginning of this year that raised serious concerns within the council and members, leading us to take action because these actions were not right," said deputy president Datin Dorph Peng Wen Yin.
Also at the press conference were Chin, treasurer Datuk Jeffrey Low Boon Heng and council members K. Anpanathan, Datuk Alex Wong Che Sing, Sam Tsen and Eng Kin Hoong.
Ding, claimed Peng, had issued a warning letter to Chin on February 28 without going through the disciplinary committee, which she chaired.
"We were all surprised when Chin received the letter because he was trying to organise a council meeting according to the association's constitution," she said, adding that Ding had also sent an email on March 25, appointing himself as the lead of the disciplinary committee without the council's consent.
"The management of the association lies with the council, not the president individually," she said, calling this "an attempt to override the current disciplinary committee, which acts on behalf of the council."
During the press conference, those present also responded in a 22-page statement to the nine allegations made by Ding about his removal.
Peng claimed that Ding had also not responded to all the inquiries and attempts by the council to seek clarifications.
“Instead, we received an email from him on March 28 claiming his position and insisting that we contact him if we have any questions about the (association's) constitution," she said.
Peng added that these led to several council members calling for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM).
On April 23, an EGM was called to remove Ding and revoke his membership.
Ding had declared the EGM "invalid and unlawful" since it was not called following the association's constitution.
A total of 112 registered members and 35 proxy voters attended the EGM, making a voting pool of 147 members. From this, 128 voted in favour of the motion to remove Ding, six voted against it, and 12 abstained.
On April 26, Ding held a press conference saying that the coup began in January after he refused to sign the external audit report to pave the way for the association's AGM, citing the need for an internal review due to non-compliance.
Ding said he had lodged a police report and complained to the Registrar of Societies (RoS) about the removal of his company's membership and his position as president.
He also asked the RoS to verify the validity of the EGM attendees and the legitimacy of the meeting itself.
Peng claimed that they had been perceived "as the bad ones because we remained silent, hoping to resolve these issues internally", adding that should the matter continue, the association would be affected.
Chin said the association's secretariat had lodged a police report on Monday over missing original reports of minutes of meetings for the past three years.
The association, said Low, had also consistently engaged a prominent accounting firm to conduct its external audit, which was smooth and issue-free over the years.
Ding, he claimed, had provided an internal audit report to the RoS on April 25 without providing a copy to the council.
As a result, Low said the external auditor had to spend additional time recompiling its report without referencing the internal report.
"The report will be available in the next two days, which will allow the annual general meeting (AGM) to be called in May," he added.
