TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A group of online taxi drivers dubbing themselves as the National Alliance of Online Drivers [Aliando] staged a protest rally to the State Palace on Wednesday, March 28, 2018.

The online taxi drivers were protesting the Transportation Minister’s Regulation No. 108 Year 2017 on Online Taxi.

“We are strongly against the Transportation Minister’s Regulation No. 108,” said Max, the coordinator of Aliando for West Java chapter.

Max claimed the regulation had saddled online taxi drivers, thus should not have been adopted. He took for example the requirement of public transport drivers’ licenses [SIM A], roadworthy tests [KIR], and area limits for online taxi services.

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“Can you imagine? Our cars are private cars. If we take the KIR testing we can lose our insurance,” he said.

The online drivers planned to rally from the IRTI field at the National Monument to the State Palace with estimated participants reaching 5,000 people.

“There are 50 cars from Bandung and another 30 from Karawang and Cikampek. We are still waiting for our friends to join us here,” he said.

Max hoped the online taxi drivers could meet with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to voice their complaints. “The bottom line is we are strongly against the Transportation Minister’s Regulation No. 108 because it is detrimental to us,” he enthused.

ANDITA RAHMA