Malaysian Employers Federation executive director Shamsudin Baradan said Putrajaya needs to regulate this industry so that it is attractive enough for locals to take up the jobs.
“The rebranding of this job is crucial. Expand the scope of this job by giving them first aid, emergency response and fire fighting training, among other skills for Malaysians,” he told FMT.
He was asked to comment on a report by the Pakistan newspaper The Nation which quoted Pakistan’s High Commissioner in Malaysia, Amna Baloch, that Putrajaya was negotiating with Pakistan to hire security guards.
The report further said Malaysia had a potential to hire about 100,000 to 150,000 security guards. The newspaper added the agreement to send Pakistani security guards to Malaysia had been scheduled to be formalised during the recent visit of Pakistan’s prime minister Imran Khan to Kuala Lumpur.
The youth unemployment rate in Malaysia, at 10.9% officially, is more than triple the national rate of 3.3% and has been gradually rising over the past decade.
Samsudin said salaries of locals could be on par with the training and skills the workers have gained.
Shamsuddin added there were a lot of people keen on security jobs after failing to get into the police or the army. “Some like this job as it is respectable.”
He said it is time for Putrajaya to stop commercialising foreign workers as done by agents.
“For the agents, the more foreign workers they bring in, the more money they make. Putrajaya should look at ways to attract locals to work in the security sector,” he added.
Adrian Pereira, executive director of the North South Initiative, said the industry is not regulated, causing locals to turn their backs on the job. He said security guards, now mostly from Nepal, work 12 hours a day, seven days a week.
“This is a clear case of an industry that needs to be regulated. Putrajaya needs to come up with better working hours and social protection to make it more decent for locals,” he said.
Pereira said many retired army and police personnel want to work as security guards but the working hours were a put-off.
“Once the government changes the regulations, if there is no one keen in the job, only then they should hire foreigners,” he said.
He wants Putrajaya to streamline the hiring of workers as there are a few ministries involved. Labour issues are handled by the Human Resources Ministry but hiring of security guards is handled by the Home Ministry, he added.
He said there should be a one-stop centre on hiring foreign workers to streamline the needs of the labour market.
He added that hiring of foreign workers especially security guards was a lucrative business and agents will try to hire as many as possible.
He alleged that at the moment Nepali guards are paid about RM1,800 a month but the agents could be collecting up to RM3,000 a month for each guard.
While stating that there should be no discrimination of jobs between locals and foreigners, he urged the government to review every policy linked to hiring of security guards so that it becomes attractive to locals.