KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 2): Told to apologise to Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB) daily on his Facebook and on a blog for the next three months if he wanted his job back, the president of the Railwaymen's Union of Malaya (RUM) has refused to give in, saying such a condition was tantamount to being held to ransom by his employer.

Abdul Razak Md Hassan, who is unemployed now but remains union president pending an industrial court action, said these demands by KTMB would not only humiliate him, but the union as well.

"KTMB wanted me, in my capacity as union president, to issue an apology daily for three months via Facebook and the Suara RUM blog site," Razak said.

"This request was completely unacceptable as it was not only humiliating and demeaning, but it would have meant that RUM would have lost its credibility as a union."

Razak was offered a reinstatement to his duties at KTMB but this was subject to certain terms and conditions, including making the apology on his Facebook and the blog, following his sacking for picketing on May 9 last year against KTMB president Datuk Elias Kadir.

The union wanted Elias to resign over the rail operator’s poor performance.

The saga began last September when KTMB sacked Razak and RUM deputy president R. Subramaniam, and acted against 110 union members for participating in the picket.

About 700 RUM members had participated in the protest and the 110 who had been identified by KTMB were issued show-cause letters.

Razak and Subramaniam, at that time, described their termination as a travesty of justice and vowed to take remedial action against KTMB.

Since then, all the workers have been reinstated by KTMB with terms and conditions that they no longer participate in any activity, union or otherwise, that is deemed detrimental to KTMB, Razak told The Malaysian Insider.

This includes no more participation in pickets or protests against KTMB's management, which Razak described as a gag order.

"I advised all the RUM members to accept KTMB's order as although it was tough to swallow, our members have families to support."

However, Razak himself did not accept KTMB's conditions, saying that to do so would be to make himself and the union beholden to KTMB, Malaysia's main rail operator.

"We have filed a complaint under Section 4 and 5 of Act 177 of the Industrial Relations Act 1967," Razak said.

The case is scheduled to be heard by the Industrial Relations Department on Thursday.

Razak has refused to back down from his criticism of Elias, whom he claimed was driving KTMB into the ground.

"The current dire straits KTMB finds itself in is testament to that," Razak said.

He said an audit conducted in 2011 showed that the company suffered RM100 million in losses, which nearly tripled to RM280 million in 2012.

The loss-making KTMB has been the target of several companies keen to take it private, including MMC and Gamuda Bhd.

Earlier last year, MMC had been keen to form a joint venture with Gamuda to take over KTMB in a deal worth more than RM5 billion but the deal fell through.

MMC then presented a proposal to privatise the cargo operations of KTMB and initial estimates put the sum at RM2 billion.