Jokowi: Solution to Online App-based Taxi Issue Must be Fair

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has reiterated that any solution to the problem posed by smartphone application-based taxi services must be fair.

"The President has ordered an evaluation (of the problem), so there will be fairness," Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said on Tuesday.

The solution must be fair to those operating conventional taxis as well as to smartphone application-based taxi services, Luhut pointed out.

The online app-based taxis should abide by the rules, and must be registered and licensed, and must pay taxes, the minister said.

Luhut further said earlier the government could not have predicted a scenario in which there were online-app based transportation services. These services came into existence with technological progress.

On Tuesday, several thousand drivers, employed by various taxi operators in the Greater Jakarta area, staged a massive strike to express their strong resentment at the unfair competition they face from the smartphone application-based taxi services.

The protesting drivers wanted that the app-based cheaper taxi services must be scrapped and not allowed to operate in gridlocked Jakarta.

Protesting taxi drivers who took to the streets in Jakarta brought certain parts of the capital city to a standstill, stopping their cars on some of the main roads.

The drivers staging the rally believe that private cars being deployed through smartphone applications are not a legitimate business entity, as they are not subject to tax regulations or obligated to undergo vehicle road worthiness tests (KIR).

ANTARA