Syed Saddiq Shaking The Wrong Tree

Here is the falsafah ok :  The Mat Rempit folks, the others who ride around motorbikes delivering food, delivering parcels etc are doing that because they cannot, do not or will not get permanent jobs.  

For a number of reasons - of their own making or not of their own making.  

Nowadays these include university graduates like engineers and IT graduates who either 

• cannot get a regular permanent job
• they do not have communication skills
• do not have marketable skills
• their skill levels do not match available jobs 
• they do not have the discipline to hold a permanent job
• they do not like to work much etc etc. 

There are a hundred reasons.

For comparative levels of skill  (riding a motorbike delivering stuff) there are millions of other jobs in our economy that still need people - which are currently filled by Banglas, Indons, Filipinos, Nepalis and others.  Our locals are not taking up all the jobs that are available. They rather stay unemployed and run around riding their motorbikes.

So we must be thankful that there are outfits like the American Pizza Hut, Domino's Pizza, McDonald's, KFC and even Restoran Mahboob  in Bangsar which have been hiring some of these 'unemployed' folks to deliver their food on motorbikes. They cook their food. There are also some supermarkets and retailers who also provide employment for these motorcycle delivery boys. 

Now the newest kids on the block are the 'delivery' companies like Grab Food and Food Panda who have got into the 'delivery' side of things.  Grab Food does not cook the food. They just deliver the food. They bring a higher value added component through the use of IT and simply managing things better. 

As a result Grab Food and Food Panda have opened up even more "employment" opportunities for a particular segment of our unemployed class, the mat motors, who would otherwise still remain unemployed.

The reason why Food Panda and Grab Food can provide these employment opportunities is because the arithmetic still adds up.

Say a group of FOUR office colleagues ordered RM50 worth of lunch from Restoran Mahboob - delivered by Mahboob's own motorcycle delivery boy. It is this RM50 that must pay for the cost of the food (the fish, chicken, sayur, nasi putih, the restaurant workers salaries, the delivery boys salary, the minyak petrol for the motorbike etc.) Plus some profit for the restaurant itself. 

And now - Food Panda or Grab Food comes in and they can deliver food for Restoran Mahboob. Of course Restoran Mahboob must pay something to Grab Food. 

There are two ways - they don't increase the RM50 price to the customer, meaning they absorb the delivery charges by Grab Food. (Especially if there is a lot of competition).  Or Grab Food's delivery charges are added on separately on top of the price of the food. It becomes RM50 plus. 

In both cases Restoran Mahboob does not need their own delivery boy anymore. They save on his salary, the petrol for the bike etc. That delivery boy will become jobless. He can join Grab food. 

But whatever the case you cannot ignore that RM50 that makes this all possible. Or slightly extra.

The restoran must still get paid that RM50.00 or somewhere close to it. 

The FOUR office colleagues can only afford to pay the same RM50 for the same quantity of food.  (They may pay a little extra for office delivery because they save on travelling time, parking charges, petrol, maybe toll etc).

But if Food Panda or Grab Food charge TOO MUCH for their delivery services then Restoran Mahboob will not be able to use their services. The FOUR office colleagues will not be able to afford delivery lunch. They either have to drive or they will eat elsewhere or eat something else. 

There will be NO NEED for Food Panda and GRab Food delivery boys.

So at the end of the lunch hour  - from the kitchen of Restoran Mahboob until the food is eaten by the hungry office colleagues there is only that much money - about RM50.00 - to work with. 

Syed Saddiq must keep this in mind. 
And who decides this? 
The market decides this. 

1. Restoran Mahboob decides the price of one nasi campur bungkus lunch. Or the price of one murtabak ayam. Restoran Mahboob decides on this. They must make some money. This is called market price. 

2. The Grab Food guys need motorbikes. They must pay the monthly instalment for the motorbikes. The motorbike seller must make some money. This is market price.

3. The bikes need petrol from the petrol station.  The petrol station must make some money. This is also market price (but in Malaysia petrol is a monopoly).

4. The workers at Restoran Mahboob who kick off this string of events (by preparing the food) must also earn wages. Their wages are at market rates. The market decides.

5. And then suddenly - Syed Sadiq steps in. Syed Saddiq wants to interfere in the market and determine the wages for the Food Panda and Grab Food deliver boys ??  Macam mana pula?  

You will throw the RM50+  portion of the equation out of balance. If you want to determine the wages of the delivery boys, it will increase the food price to beyond RM50+. Or if the price remains the same (because of the super intense competition in the nasi kandar business) then someone else must get less.  

So who should get less? 
Food Panda? 
Restoran Mahboob? 
The petrol station? 
The motorbike seller? 
Who? 

This is a dumb question. 
It is not meant to be answered.

Syed Saddiq has also made silly and meaningless statements like 'companies .. to make hundreds of millions in revenue and profit'
They take risks. 
They also work hard.
They may make profits. 
Or they may also make losses. 
That is the nature of business.

If Syed Saddiq wants to interfere in how Grab Food manages their workers salaries then can Syed Saddiq guarantee that Grab Food WILL NOT and CANNOT make losses?  In other words can Syed Saddiq guarantee that Grab Food will always make profits?
(Err . . .but please DO NOT use MY TAX MONEY to make such promises ok?) 

If you cannot guarantee their profits or you cannot guarantee they will NOT make losses then please do not stick your nose in how private companies should run their businesses.

Syed Saddiq has said :   

• new law needed to regulate gig economy according to Syed Saddiq 
• came up with idea after two-hour talk with 100 food delivery riders 
• two food delivery services nationwide 12,000 riders 

Syed Saddiq, you do not make a new law for an industry that has only 12,000 temporary workers. Yes they are all temporary workers. Plus the real demand is only 25% or 3,000 delivery boys at any one time. Don't believe me? Read this :

• 200 Foodpanda riders in Shah Alam, but work sufficient for only 50 
• how remaining 150 able to do their jobs

The reason they can "sign up" 200 riders in Shah Alam when they only need 50 riders is because of something called supply and demand.

The demand is only for 50 riders.

The supply is 200 unemployed Mat Motors who do not know what else to do.

Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, tell the Mat Motors to :

1. wake up early every morning

2. mandi, brush their teeth, comb their hair neatly

3. wear clean clothes

3. go and get a permanent job

4. go to work on time EVERY DAY 

5. work hard in their 9 to 5 jobs

6. no goofing around, no curi-curi minum teh, no disappearing

7. be trustworthy in your job 

8. bosses can trust you, customers can trust 

9. regardless of race or religion.

If the Mat Motors can be taught to do 1 to 9 above I can guarantee you they will not only get permanent jobs, they will become well paid workers.