Malaysian Private and Personal Agencies Security Guards Association president Mohd Qardisyah Abdullah said this was difficult but necessary if the guards themselves wanted change.
“The first thing they must do is to be united under an association which is not necessarily a union. That way, such issues can be curbed,” he told FMT when contacted.
He was responding to a group of security guards who recently lodged a complaint with the Penang Labour Department, claiming they were forced to work for long stretches without any days off.
The group’s spokesman, Muhammad Fazly Md Ibrahim, said he had worked for four months in a row without a day off, and that if any of them needed time off, they would have to find someone to cover for them.
“Our salaries are also always late. We should be paid by the seventh of every month but we are instead paid by the eighth.
“For our advanced salary, it is also the same. We will get it a day late and sometimes even later,” he was quoted as saying by The Star.
Qardisyah said such cases were prevalent as security guards were reluctant to come together under a single organisation to help address these issues.
He said the Security Services Association of Malaysia (PPKKM) was also slow to act on complaints over violations by irresponsible employers.
“(The employers) do as they like and freely employ guards who do not possess valid documents, which is in violation of the rules set by the home ministry.
“And when I try to fix what has gone wrong by advising the employers and writing to PPKKM, it falls on deaf ears. As a result, this problem will persist,” he said.
Security Training and Development Association (Stadam) president Khirudin Tajudin likewise attributed the exploitation of security guards to a lack of unity within the group.
“The guards are not united. Their membership is small. If they were properly organised, it would be a different matter altogether.
“However, even if you had such an association, the responsibility still lies with the employers, whether they want to follow the law and engage in clean business.”
Khirudin said employers must be more responsible as the guards were also assets and were helping the company earn money.
He told FMT that many of the guards were “naive” as they came from villages or rural areas.
He said they often wanted to stretch their working hours to get more income, and that if the employers were not responsible, they would let them “work to their deaths”.
“The employers are, I would say, ‘exploiting’ or even ‘manipulating’ the ignorance and weaknesses of the guards.”
According to him, the industry is such that many guards do not mind working for 36 or even 48 hours, especially at night. He said they would catch a few hours of sleep to freshen up and then carry on.
“This is what the vicious cycle is all about.
“You should be interested in why all these things are happening, especially among local guards. You are getting all the rotten eggs. There is no quality or consciousness among employers. It’s all about making money.”