KUCHING: Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen has called for government school security service contracts in Sarawak to be awarded primarily to local companies.
Sarawak-based security firms secured tenders for only 20 out of 243 zones statewide.
He said in monetary terms, this equates to just RM63 million of the RM720 million total contract value, or 8 per cent.
“In September, 2024, the Ministry of Education, through the Sarawak State Education Department, has called for tenders for the provision of security services in all the government schools in Sarawak for the period between Jan 1, 2025 to Dec 31, 2027 (36 months).
“For Sarawak security companies to only get a mere eight per cent of contract value for the contract works in our homeland of Sarawak, it is an outright marginalisation of Sarawak security firms in general and the Sarawakians at large.
“Many security companies from Sarawak who are qualified, experienced and currently active in the security service industry were not awarded any of the contracts and were totally left out,” he said.
He said this in a press conference regarding the matter at DAP headquarters here today (Dec 17).
Chong noted the outcome as unjust, noting that Sarawak companies were relegated to roles as subcontractors or even sub-subcontractors, while firms from outside Sarawak claimed the largest share of the contracts.
“Furthermore, for these security companies to meet the tender requirement, they have to do site visits on all the schools that they tender for.
“In order to make site visits to these schools, these non-Sarawak security companies and their directors would have to first obtain a work permit and working visa from the Sarawak immigration before they can legally carry out their site visits,” he said.
He said the government can consider putting on hold the implementation of the contract work and a review of the tenders so that at least 50 percent in terms of value of the contract work go to the Sarawak security companies.
