Faced with some of Southeast Asia’s highest obesity rates, officials are dangling a regulatory ‘carrot’ to gym operators – but will it work?
4-MIN READ4-MIN ListenIman Muttaqin YusofPublished: 10:30am, 9 Mar 2026Updated: 10:33am, 9 Mar 2026Malaysia has cut operating licence fees for gyms in Kuala Lumpur by 80 per cent, offering fitness operators a regulatory “carrot” as the government tries to push residents in one of Southeast Asia’s heaviest countries to exercise more.The move comes as Malaysia grapples with some of the region’s highest obesity rates – a problem health officials say is especially pronounced in sedentary urban centres such as the capital.
Under the new Kuala Lumpur rate, in force from January 1, gyms now pay 10 ringgit (US$2) per square metre, down from 50 ringgit.
Federal Territories Minister Hannah Yeoh said operators who previously paid about 5,000 ringgit (US$1,270) a year would now pay about 1,000 ringgit.
“Previously, gym operators paid about 5,000 ringgit annually in licence fees. Now, they only need to pay 1,000 ringgit. This is a reduction of 80 per cent,” she said at a press conference at City Hall earlier this week.
The initiative would start in Kuala Lumpur before extending to Putrajaya and Labuan, she said, adding that only “pure” gyms would qualify for the 10 ringgit rate.
