Taxi, e-hailing drivers still reluctant to contribute to Socso — Minister

PUTRAJAYA: The government has expressed disappointment over the attitude of taxi and e-hailing drivers who are still reluctant to contribute to the Social Security Organisation (Socso).

Human Resources Minister M Kula Segaran said from almost 90,000 taxi and e-hailing drivers, only 4,231 have taken up the SelfEmployment Social Security Scheme (SPS) as of April 2018.

“Socso intends to extend the safety net to all Malaysians but sadly less than 5,000 drivers have registered, so we encourage them to register because we are willing to give insurance coverage,” said Kula Segaran at a press conference after officiating the Malaysia Commuting Accident and Road Safety Seminar 2018 ( MyCARSS 2018) at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre yesterday.

When asked to comment on the status of a Grab driver who was murdered recently, Socso chief executive officer Datuk Seri Dr Mohammed Azman Aziz Mohammed who was also present at the event, said his department checked the database system upon receiving the information over the incident, but the result was disappointing as the victim did not contribute to Socso.

“What we want is to work closely with Grab as it has the full list of drivers, and we want them to give us assistance as some payment goes through Grab and they just can deduct it straight to Socso.

“We have tried to meet up with Grab representatives several times for their assistance on this matter but nothing has been done so far and this tragic incident is one example, if they work closely with Socso by making sure that all drivers are registered, then we can provide immediate insurance coverage,” said Mohamed Azman.

He also said the drivers needed to make contribution to ensure that they would receive insurance coverage should they be involved in an accident while working.

“They only need to contribute RM150 per year and they can register at any Socso branch,” he added.

The scheme was enforced on June 1, last year, where all taxi and e-hailing drivers were required to register under the scheme for a social security network, and to ensure that they or their family members would receive assistance in the event of an accident or death. — Bernama