In its first proposal to the Yangon Region Hluttaw, the Union Solidarity and Development Party called on the government to bolster the private security sector with better oversight and regulations.
The proposal, submitted by MP U Tin Win (USDP; Cocokyun), the former regional minister for security and border affairs, asked the government to enact a private security law which would mandate the training of security staffin the city.
U Tin Win said in the October 25 session that currently banks, malls, hospitals and housing in Yangon are protected by security staff who have not received any training and therefore cannot properly protect the locations they have been charged with guarding.
“Security companies fail to give security training to their staff. The development of a private security sector in Yangon will support the rule of law. That is why the government should enact this law,” he said.
Two recent stabbings in shopping malls were invoked to highlight the weaknesses of untrained security staff.
“The security guards shouldn’t have allowed dangerous items such as knives, scissors and other sharp things into these shopping centres. The security staff didn’t know this because they weren’t given proper training,” said the USDP MP.
Military MP Major San Hla Tin Aung supported the proposal, saying that it would also improve job opportunities in the region.
“Some security services are currently unregistered. If such a law was enacted they would have to register,” he added.
According to the regional government, there are 32 security service companies with licences and 53 companies without licences currently operating in Yangon.
Colonel Tin Aung Tun, regional minister for security and border affairs, said that the government plans to hold a workshop between private security companies and the police in order to improve the industry.
“Yangon needs a lot of security staff and I understand that the police force will get a lot of help if the private security sector developed in Yangon,” he said.
But Daw War War Min, executive director of PSS Security Company, said that basic security training is already provided to her company’s security staff, including lessons in self-defence. She added that the company sends all security personnel to be trained by the Myanmar Fire Services Department.
“We appointed a security training manager to train the staffs who provide security services,” she said.
Source: Myanmar Times
