Malaysia to change policy of hiring only Nepalis as guards

Malaysia today said it will review its decade-old policy of hiring only Nepalis as security guards to allow foreigners from other source countries to take on the job.

Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed said the review comes in light of recent nationwide operations by the Immigration department to weed out illegal security guards, many of whom are from Indonesia, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

Under the current policy, which was introduced in 2006, only Nepalis can be employed as security guards and according to the Home Ministry's records, there are some 24,000 Nepalis registered as security guards in the country.

"We may have to look at other source countries that have a good supply of security guards with military background, such as Sri Lanka," Mohamed said, adding, "formerly, the job was reserved only for Nepalis owing to their reputations as Gurkha soldiers".

However, he said, a limited supply of Nepali security guards had forced some companies to hire other nationals.

"Some companies hire other foreigners and this is not allowed under the current policy," he said, adding that there were about 800 licensed security guard companies in the country.

"It is not so easy to get Nepali guards with a military or police background these days. A review will allow trained guards from other source countries to be hired," Immigration director-general Datuk Sakib Kusmi added.