KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — The Malaysian government should take steps to protect the welfare of gig workers and also close any possible loopholes that would enable monopolies by businesses, PKR Youth chief Akmal Nasir said today.

Akmal, who is also Johor Baru MP,  said he welcomed the views of fellow PKR MPs Nurul Izzah Anwar and Wong Chen in a recent webinar where they had expressed concern over the potential for monopoly by companies in the gig economy such as e-hailing platform Grab.

Akmal acknowledged that companies involved in the gig economy had advantages as the first mover in the industry, but noted the risk of the potential for uncontrolled monopolistic practices and the potential for a huge crisis in the future.

"Therefore, the government should carry out follow-up studies on the Competition Act 2010 to ensure that there are no loopholes that can be manipulated by industry players for the purposes of monopoly in business,” he said in a statement today, having stated that the government should closely monitor the gig economy in Malaysia to ensure healthy competition.

Akmal also urged the government to be more proactive in empowering the gig economy and acting as a support system to guarantee sufficient protection for gig workers.

Akmal noted that gig economy workers in Malaysia currently have to register with the Social Security Organisation (Socso), and that only 7 per cent of the 400,000 gig workers in the country had been registered as of August 2020.

"Therefore the government has to look into improvements in this matter as gig economy workers are also at a high risk of accidents,” he said.

Akmal concluded by saying that the government should prioritise efforts to curb the emergence of monopolistic practices by reviewing existing laws and also update initiatives to protect gig economy workers.