Strategizing Professionalization of Private Security Guarding Services Industry During Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Malaysia

Authors

  • David Sothie Naysadorai, Oo Yu Hock

Abstract

The on-off and on-again call for professionalizing the private security guarding industry has never been any more urgent than now under death-threatening circumstances of the worldwide coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and particularly in Malaysia where evidences of the reported flattening curve have begun to see a decline in local cases but fluctuating increase in imported localized cases.  The latter is associated with the presence of a large number of foreign labor in a myriad of Malaysian industries, the private security guarding services (although no cases yet specifically identified) is no exception because this sector has a fairly high number of foreign security-guarding employees.  The paradox remains that the disastrous COVID-19 is providing an opportune avenue for localizing employment-development in the private security guarding services (PSGS) industry, to help redress the economic malaise of depressing numbers of increasing displaced employees, thus facilitating a catalytic professionalization strategy of the industry in post-COVID era.  The short-term result, the medium-term impact and the long-term outcome, in varying degrees of combined influences, reflected in this research findings, will significantly contribute toward the overdue-turnaround effort to attract, recruit, train and professionalize local job-seeking or qualified unemployed employees to the industry, thus reducing dependency on foreign security guards.  And, concurrently too, it should enable a review of legislative compliance and policy governance that can eventually and progressively professionalize the said industry, culminating in a more respected career-progression security guarding workforce of local Malaysians in private security guarding companies. This, in turn, means improving the corporate image of professionalism in the said industry and securing the confidence of the public in security services, with or without the ominous threat of next-phase COVID-19 onslaught, for Malaysians by Malaysians and of Malaysians.

Published

2020-10-15

Issue

Section

Articles