KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has agreed in principle to the recommendation by Umno to establish the Gig Economy Commission Malaysia (SEGiM), said Deputy Prime Minister and Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

SEGiM aims to regulate the ecosystem of the gig industry and take care of the welfare of the entire economic chain starting from service providers to suppliers and up to workers and consumers.

"As many as 1.12 million (players) are involved in this industry (so far) and the increase is recording 23 per cent every year,” he said in his closing speech at the 2023 Umno general assembly here, today.

In his policy speech on Friday (June 9), Ahmad Zahid said this sector is growing rapidly where more than 80 per cent of gig economy users are young people.

"Therefore, let us not ignore the current digital evolution that dominates Malaysia’s digital economy market which has reached multi-billion transactions, reaching RM52.4 billion in 2020 alone, and is even expected to grow at a rate of 23 per cent every year,” he said.

Ahmad Zahid explained that the establishment of SEGiM will give new light on gig economy participants, including those in the delivery sector such as Grab, Lalamove, and Foodpanda, among others.

"It will also enable the government to structure a gig economy taxation system that will see a large flow of cash flow through this service abroad,” he said. — Bernama