Security guards at the closing ceremony of the Certified Security Guards at the Royal Malaysian Police College. – Filepic

KUALA LUMPUR: Certified training by police for Malaysian guards is a welcome move, but will do little to curb the illegal ones, said private security industry veteran Datuk Seri Juniur Khoo.

Khoo, whose firm Chico Force manages security at several major malls here, claimed the Home Ministry was cracking down on the wrong side of the industry.

Authorities were still not paying attention to the sub-contractors of unscrupulous firms that are hiring the illegal guards, he claimed.

Last year, he told The Star that the industry was being dominated by some security firms who “franchised” their services out to smaller sub-contractors, who hire untrained and unvetted foreigners to be security guards.

The lack of training for the illegal guards allow contractors to offer clients cheaper rates as low as RM5 an hour, compared to firms who “play by the rules” and offer an average of RM8 to RM9 an hour for a guard.

Yesterday, The Star front-paged a report that security firms must have at least 10% of their Malaysian employees trained by the police before their company licences could be renewed by the ministry.

The ministry vets the guards before they undergo a six-day course at police academies where they learn how to handle firearms, first aid and fire fighting.

However, Khoo claimed that security companies like his were wasting manpower and funds to send their guards, who have already been put through privately funded training, for extra certification by the police under the CSG.

“I would say it is a good initiative by the ministry for the certified training. However, there are other factors to be considered.

“Not many firms are keen on sending their guards for additional training by the police. But since they made it a mandatory thing to renew our license, we have no choice.”

He claimed that the unscrupulous companies would send their guards, too, but they continue to offer low rates through their sub-contractors.

“The contractors don’t have to send their guards for training to renew their licence because they don’t have licences to begin with,” he claimed.

Security Services Association of Malaysia adviser Datuk Shaheen Mirza Habib said the ministry was in the process of weeding out illegal guards and shutting down unscrupulous companies, but estimated that about 20% of the 237,000 guards were illegal ones.

The ministry could not be reached for comment at press time.

Authorities have performed an audit on the industry from Sept 1 last year to June 23 this year and detained 659 illegal guards.

The ministry also revoked the licences of eight firms and issued final warnings to 25 others.

On Sept 1, the ministry ordered all security firms and their guards to “physically show up” at the National Registration Department to have their identification checked and biometrics verified.

This comes after the ministry introduced measures to raise the quality of security guards and the industry.