Former Persatuan Penghantar P-Hailing Malaysia (Penghantar) secretary-general Ahmad Nazirul Azrie Ahmad Noh said their presence would enable the commission to directly engage gig economy workers, who will then not feel cast aside.

“Whatever problems these riders face can be easily identified through the representatives from associations such as Penghantar,” he told FMT.

Nazirul was commenting on the statement by deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on Sunday that he would try to get the Cabinet’s approval to establish the commission, given that over 1.2 million people work in the sector.

Zahid has been talking about establishing a commission to manage the gig industry’s ecosystem since last july.

Recently, a group of p-hailing workers, who alleged that their delivery fees had been set too low, organised the “Grab Blackout Campaign”.

Nazirul said that his association’s aim from the beginning was to highlight the welfare and safety of p-hailing workers in their discussions with the p-hailing companies and the government.

He said that if such a commission was established, it should emphasise road safety and a protection scheme under the Social Security Organisation (Socso).