Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Dr Yee Moh Chai urged those who are not happy with the recently enforced minimum wage for security guards to voice out their opinions.

He said it is only right that the interested party, stakeholders, union for example in this case, voice out their views if they are unhappy about it.

"After all we are living in a democratic country, if they feel that the level of wages they have been offered is not something that they expect, there's nothing wrong with letting the authorities concerned know about it and this should be the correct way to approach it," he said.

He was commenting on the statement issued by the Labour Department to security service providers in Sabah, stating that they need to abide by the Wages Council's Wages Regulation Order to pay their employees (security guards) a basic monthly salary of at least RM450.

The order was gazetted on July 28 this year and subsequently enforced on Aug 1.

The statement further added that a full time worker employed as a security guard by a private agency licensed under Section 3 of the Private Agencies Act 1971 [Act 27] was not only entitled to receive the statutory minimum RM450, plus RM100 as safety incentive but could accept better remuneration based on the contract between the agency and worker.

"Let's hope we'll do it in a civilised manner so that at the end of the day we take care of everyone, not just the people who want to have a higher wage," Dr Yee said during the Resource Development and Information Technology Ministry's Hari Raya open house, which was also attended by Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Musa Aman, Tuesday.

He added that a sustainable system must be attained in enforcing this as all parties would end up losers if the focus is put on paying people a lot of money without a sustainable system.

"Companies will go bankrupt, like other countries in the world which suffer economic crises.

"But I must emphasise again there is nothing wrong for the parties that are interested in it to voice out their opinion if they are not happy with what has been offered," he said.

Dr Yee hoped this would be the modus operandi that would apply to other sectors as well, and ultimately achieve an acceptable and equitable level of wages for every party concerned.

He also hoped the Government would address the issue of the minimum wage for Sabah being lower than that of Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia.

"I am quite surprised why Sabah has to have a lower wage, I don't think that should be the way," Yee added.

Also present were the Ministry's Assistant Minister, Datuk Jainab Ahmad, and Mayor Datuk Abidin Madingkir, among others.

Sabah Today