Penang: The Ministry of Human Resources (KESUMA) plans to present the Gig Workers Economy Bill (RUU) at the next Parliament session, to protect the welfare of workers in the sector. Human Resources Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong said a large-scale town hall session will be held for one last time in the near future before the bill is brought to the next Dewan Rakyat session.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, Sim stated, “We should have presented it in the Parliament session last year but after an engagement session with stakeholders including representatives of workers and platforms, there was more feedback so we postponed it to include more details.” He emphasized the importance of the bill by saying, “We are ready to present the draft (RUU) but because there is feedback still forthcoming and this is a new, historic law that we have never made before, I want to make sure that when we present it in Parliament, it can really bring benefit to the Gig sector, especially to the protection of Gig workers.”
To ensure comprehensive stakeholder consultation, KESUMA has decided to postpone the presentation of the bill and is conducting a roadshow across the country. Sim mentioned that he has received the latest draft of the bill last week and plans to organize the town hall session after the roadshow concludes.
In Malaysia, there are currently 1.12 million gig workers and 146 platform providers, which include 127 local platforms and 19 foreign ones. A total of 678,000 gig workers from 20 sectors have contributed to the Self-Employed Social Security Scheme (SKSPS), Social Security Organisation (Perkeso) as of August 2, 2024. This includes 145,232 contributors from the passenger transport sector and 96,224 contributors from the goods and food transport sector.
The presentation of the Gig Workers Bill, initially scheduled for December 2024, was postponed to allow for more engagement sessions with stakeholders, as informed by Minister of Communications Fahmi Fadzil, who is also the spokesman for the Unity Government on November 22 of the previous year.