I think this practice is very wrong and unfortunately has become an accepted HR practice in Malaysia. Your previous salary history is between you and your previous employer. HR staff requesting this are simply being oppressive towards the new candidate. By putting your existing salary on the table you are giving the employer the upper hand which will leave you out in the cold come salary negotiation. Hr departments should hire you based on the quality of your CV, your previous experience, skills and interview quality. those attributes should contribute to a fair offer based on Market expectations. Previous salary should have nothing to do with it. This culture is only acceptable because Malaysians allow it to be acceptable. As a lot of posts have said, if you say no then they will move on to the next candidate. Well if all candidates refused then whose market is it? You all need to band together in order to effect a change. As a hiring manager if I requested to interview someone and HR said that I cannot see this person as they will not reveal their previous salary I would insist to see them. Stand up for yourselves Malaysians.

And to the people in this thread saying they can use this to screen out candidates that do not fit the budget, this is BS, the expected salary is what effects your budget not what I'm currently earning.

Finally this is contributing to Malaysian poor income standards, Part of someones plan to keep you poor and dumb.