KUALA LUMPUR: Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli yesterday took to social media to talk about the state of Malaysia's gig economy and the issues related to it.
He was speaking in a video taken from the 'Yang Bakar Menteri' podcast which was uploaded on Facebook.
The video was titled ' My comment about the gig-economy that will definitely be criticised.'
"When we talk about the gig economy, there are many categories. If the gig economy means freelancers for high value (work) such as coders and creative artistes, then there are no problems because the supply and demand is there and their salaries are competitive.
"In Malaysia, when we talk about gig economy, it is more to e-hailing. There will be two to three perspectives that I will be criticised for.
"First is that in principle, the gig economy though e-hailing is good because it provides flexibility to supplement one's income. You can do something else."
Rafizi related how he knew gig economy workers personally in his past work experiences.
"I had a start up with workers who worked for a salary of around RM3,000 plus a month. They'd work until about 5pm. They are bachelors, so at night they carried out deliveries to supplement their income.
"The concept and their purpose is good. But then, there are always unintended consequences, especially when the current market has a company that is very, very dominant. In the past, there were two (companies), now it is just Grab because Foodpanda is now for sale, so we are looking at a one dominant market.
"There are unintended consequences from the presence of one dominant company."
Rafizi said these unintended consequences has led to the government taking action to ensure there was fairness in this sector.
However, he said that whenever the government needs to intervene in certain matters related to business ecosystem, it has to do it carefully.
He also pointed out the repercussions that may come along if more and more Malaysians rely on e-hailing for income up to a point where it may end up becoming a person's main source of income.
He said this happens when graduates with degrees and diplomas who were forced to join the gig economy because they could not secure jobs in sectors they were trained for.
He said when too many Malaysians depend on jobs such as e-hailing for a long-term period, Malaysia would lose talents.
Rafizi said any forms of monopolisation is detrimental for the economy and this was equally bad if it exists in the gig economy sector.
"It will cause supply and demand between one dominant company and the e-hailers. However you want to disagree with this, things will work in favour for the dominant company in the sector because they will be many people who are willing to do the work."
Rafizi said in moving forward, the government and all stakeholders must take a holistic approach to create a healthy business ecosystem.