LOCAL security guards are allegedly being exploited by certain agencies, Security Guard Union of Malaysia (SGU) president Ali Ibrahim said.

Since the union’s inception six months ago, it has received nearly 100 reports of guards being cheated.

He said some guards who worked 12 hours shifts were not paid overtime but only paid the minimum wage.

“Most companies do not follow the labour law, which is a big issue. They could be paying RM1,000 or more less than they are supposed to, said Ali.

“The union has taken the matters to the labour court. We (union) act as their intermediaries,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

He said the union has sued around 100 companies and assisted about 1,000 guards.

“The most frequent complaints we get are about salary. Most of the companies pay the minimum wage of RM1,500. It is the overtime wages, which come up to about RM1,125 a month, that aren’t paid.”

He said most companies would pay up after they were contacted by the union but some had to be compelled by the court to pay.

He said the union represents 5,000 guards nationwide.

Ali urged the Home Ministry and Malaysian Security Industry Association to look into the problem.

“We have asked for a meeting with the home minister and we are also submitting a white paper on the grouses.”

He said Malaysia has about 150,000 registered guards, 30,000 of whom are Nepalese.

Local guards wanted

Ali also questioned the government’s move to take in Bangladeshis to serve as security guards.

“If this happens the locals are going to be out of jobs. It is not fair,” he said.

“Malaysians are better to safeguard the country. Locals are more patriotic; the foreigners just want to finish their job and go home.

He said it is also crucial to stop the outflow of the nation’s wealth as foreigners remit their earnings.

“There are 30,000 foreign security guards; assuming they send around RM2,000 a month home, that’s more than RM700 million that’s remitted a year.”

He said the union has signed a memorandum with the Malaysian Private Security Agency Officers’ Association and the Selangor and Federal Territory Security Industry Association (SWISS) to upgrade the local pool of guards.

“Our main intention is to provide proper training for locals so they can fill the positions,” Ali said.

“At the moment the guards do not have formal training. We are working at getting them into an induction course.

“They must learn their rights, what their tasks are and what they need to do. Eventually, we should have a training centre managed by the Home Ministry.

“If given the proper training, we believe more locals will join the security services. The authorities must come out with plans on how to train the locals.”

Ali said foreign guards are preferred because they ask for less pay.

“They can be paid as low as RM1,800 a month, sometimes with no overtime, but locals are paid around RM3,000. Moreover locals take leave and have days off while the foreigners don’t.”

Ali also said there are many illegal security guards, adding the authorities should also look into it.

SWISS chief adviser Khirudin Tajudin urged the government to emulate Singapore in the recruitment and management of security guards. 

“We should demand less manpower, have an integrated system, and get better security technology.

“If we do this, we will have highly qualified security personnel and ultimately better profiles of security guards.”

He said solutions were proposed to home minister Hamzah Zainudin in 2020 but did not earn a response.

“The solutions are practical but unfortunately, they didn’t seem to move them (the authorities) an inch.”

He said that for the development of future talent, the labour market needs to be realigned for inclusive, sustainable growth.

He urged the government to promote shared responsibility and equitable compensation for security guards as the first task and to develop future talents. – April 6, 2023.