THE government will continue to ensure the welfare of food couriers or riders (p-hailing) in this country by regulating the service. 

Caretaker transport minister Wee Ka Siong said his ministry is currently in the final stage of amending the relevant acts, namely, the Road Transport Act 1987, the Land Public Transport Act 2010, and the Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board Act 1987 for Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan. 

He said with the amendment of the acts, those who are involved in p-hailing services, especially food delivery, will be better protected and operators will be regulated by government bodies. 

“The bills to amend the relevant acts has been approved but it is now in the final stage to amend the act and we will make sure that the amendments will be successful after being debated later. 

“The government is amending the acts is to enable this service to have a front specific to the service, which has faced some problems before,” he told reporters during a meet-and-greet with food delivery riders in Yong Peng in Batu Pahat today. 

Wee added that operators and riders need to be registered and have licences, but the mechanism of owning the licence will be simplified. 

“We at the ministry level will ensure that this licence issue will be implemented without causing any trouble to any party,” he said.

At the same time, the ministry will also ensure that food couriers are also protected with the scheme offered by the Social Security Organisation (Socso). 

“The riders or food delivery people’s Socso contribution payment this year through the Self-Employed Social Security Scheme has been borne by the incumbent MP for the Ayer Hitam parliamentary constituency,” said Wee, who is Ayer Hitam incumbent. – Bernama, November 16, 2022.