Many security firms guarding housing areas linked to gangs, says report

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar says there should be tighter leasing control of security licences to third parties. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, May 18, 2015.

Many security firms employed to guard residential neighbourhoods are backed by gangs, a report in The Star said today.

The Security Services Association of Malaysia (PPKKM) estimates that at least 40 of its member companies have the support of the gangs.

The report cited its president Datuk Seri Mustapa Ali as saying that the association had formed a task force with the Home Ministry, police and Immigration Department to weed out the gang-linked firms.

"We really don’t know what the actual figures are because of the discreet way they operate.

“We have reported 40 companies to the Home Ministry for suspected gang links. They are smaller franchises of bigger companies but they are run by gangs,” Mustapa was quoted as saying.

Mustapa said currently a total of 761 security companies were registered under PPKKM.

The association estimated that there were 200,000 legal Malaysian and Nepali guards and as many as 47,000 illegal guards working in the country.

A recent case involving a turf war among gangsters in Bandar Bukit Raja, Klang had left one security guard dead and six others injured.

Some residents associations (RA) in the Klang Valley said they had no choice but to employ the services of the security firms after being threatened that gangsters would cause problems otherwise.

The Star report cited an RA chairman as saying that when his neighbourhood was being patrolled by a suspected gang-linked company, houses of those who did not pay for the service were frequently broken into.

Another representative of an RA, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said many associations were enticed by security companies backed linked to gangs because of the low rates.

“They charge about RM4 or RM5 an hour. But later we find that these guys are not even trained. Some come to work drunk,” he said.

The report also quoted a security industry veteran, who handles several RA contracts in the Klang Valley, as saying that his clients found it difficult to get rid of gang-linked guards.

“One RA asked me to take over from a gang but I declined. No one dares to take over from a gang, it is something we don’t want to get involved in,” he said.

He said gang-patrolled neighbourhoods were on the rise in Klang, Rawang and some parts of Subang Jaya and Lembah Subang.

Meanwhile, The Star reported that amendments to the Private Agencies Act 1971 are set to be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat in October to rein in the problem-ridden security industry.

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar was reported as saying that there should be tighter leasing control of security licences to third parties.

Under the proposed amendment to the Act, companies can only lease their security licences to others with the ministry’s approval, the report said.

Wan Junaidi said gangs had been exploiting this loophole to venture into the security business.

He said security firm licences were usually given to former police or military personnel.

“The problem arises when these owners are approached by businessmen to expand their company by opening branches in other states.

“On the surface it all looks fine but some branches become part of the shady dealings as gangs penetrate them. When we ask the owners, they seem to be clueless of what is going on,” he was quoted as saying.

- TMI