Former minister and Umno Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin has questioned the short time given for MPs to debate the Gig Workers Bill 2025 in Parliament, in contrast with the years taken to engage stakeholders and draft the bill.
In the latest episode of his Keluar Sekejap podcast, Khairy pointed out that the process of drafting the bill began in 2019.
“It has gone through various consultations, discussions, engagements and so on. I am not complaining about the drafting process.
“As a former MP and minister, I am complaining that in the end, it took two to three hours (to debate). If you’ve already taken three to four years to draft the bill, why rush at the end?” he said.
He said it would have been better to debate the bill for another two days, not counting possible discussions within a committee.
Tabled for its first reading on Monday by human resources Steven Sim, the bill passed in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday sets out rights for gig workers, and rules for firms and platforms that hire them.
The bill, debated in one day by 22 MPs and passed with a voice vote, primarily includes an official definition of gig workers, the minimum compensation, a complaints mechanism, and social security protection through mandatory contributions to Perkeso.
Each MP is given five minutes to debate a bill in Parliament. With 22 MPs debating the Gig Workers Bill, that brings the total time taken to debate the bill to 110 minutes or an hour and 50 minutes, not counting time overruns.
Khairy also took aim at certain MPs for saving their complaints for the last minute before the passing of a bill, making matters difficult for the government.
“I’ve seen this before .. usually after the first reading, the minister will call all the MPs for a briefing so we can know their concerns. Some don’t attend the briefing, some do but keep quiet.
“The problem is that (some MPs keep their concerns) until the last minute. We can’t do anything at the last minute.
“The time given to debate the bill is already so short. When we want to discuss the matter in the briefing, they don’t attend or find out (about what was discussed). They want to make it an issue at the last minute,” he said.
Co-host Shahril Hamdan concurred, saying MPs were not given enough time to study the bill and its pros and cons with their respective teams.
“The first reading was on the 25th (of August) and the second on the 28th. That is not enough time for all that to happen.
“This is not a small bill. Like KJ said, it has been discussed for a long time and has large implications to the public, and the MPs whose constituencies have many gig workers.
“They definitely have their own views and considerations that should have been heard,” he said.
