Malaysia to recruit security guards from Bangladesh
Malaysia is going to recruit security guards from Bangladesh, the second country after Nepal that has so far been allowed to send people to the Southeast Asian nation for the sector.
Bangladesh's Sena Kalyan Sangstha and Malaysian Security Industry Association (PIKM) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard at the Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
"Actually, there was an MoU signed in 2018, but security guards from Bangladesh could not be recruited in Malaysia as the then Mahathir Mohamad-led government had imposed a ban on recruitment from Bangladesh," a foreign ministry official told The Daily Star yesterday.
The development comes when Bangladesh and Malaysia are discussing the signing of a new deal and starting recruitment, which was frozen following allegations of high recruitment cost that led to forced labour in the past.
Malaysia, which faces shortage of security guards, wanted to recruit from Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines. The PIKM, an association of the agencies that recruit security guards, has chosen Bangladesh because they liked the training and efficiency of Bangladeshis, he said.
The official said Sena Kalyan Sangstha has both a training facility and international recruiting agency licence for efficiently handling the training and recruitment jobs.
He said details of the recruitment mode, benefits and exact starting time of recruitment have yet to be finalised. However, he said the recruitment will start soon as there is an acute shortage of security guards in Malaysia.
PIKM President Ramli Yusuff told Malaysian online news portal Malaysiakini that the Malaysian home ministry recently said it might consider bringing in guards from Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines.
From PIKM, they recommended only Bangladesh because they first came to Bangladesh in 2018 and signed the MoU with Sena Kalyan Sangstha, a trust owned and operated by Bangladesh Army.
"When we [PIKM] went there to see their training school, we saw how they were trained for three months, we felt that they were the best option," Ramili said.
Ramli also said PIKM has urged the Malaysian government to expedite approvals as there has been a shortage of security guards due to departures since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic last year.
He said while the Nepali security guards are permitted to work here for up to 10 years, many of them had requested to return home and the shortage was made worse with the freeze on new intakes for all migrant workers.
"We used to have around 40,000 Nepali guards but are now down to between 10,000 and 15,000.
"So in order to fill up the empty quota, we want the government to bring in Bangladeshi guards," he said.
Ramli, however, declined to comment when asked for a cost comparison between bringing in security guards from Nepal and Bangladesh, stating that it was a "subjective matter" which is still under negotiation.
He also insisted that locals are not keen to fill up the vacancies, much like in other "dirty, dangerous and difficult" sectors that are also reliant on migrant labour, Malaysiakini reports.
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