The chaos caused by today’s public transportation driver protest has left much of Jakarta at a standstill and shocked the capital’s citizens, with many online claiming they would be avoiding regular taxis (even the once trusted Blue Bird brand) after videos of violent protests went viral. Instead, many said they would be turning to ride-hailing apps like Uber and GrabCar – the very thing the protesters were demonstrating against.
How the government will respond to today’s chaos is not yet entirely clear. Previously, officials had generally sided with the traditional taxi companies, until last week when the government announced that it would take steps to help legalize and regulate ride-hailing services. Now it is likely that the pendulum will swing even farther away from the traditional taxi cab companies’ favor.
And yet, there have been few condemnations of today’s violence by officials yet. Even President Joko Widodo has yet to condemn the protesters’ actions strongly. “I just give my trust. Demonstrating is a right so please do it orderly,” he said, as quoted by Antara.
Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, on the other hand, made it very clear on Twitter that he will act decisively against the perpetrators of today’s chaos, as well as the companies that employ them.
“I will pull the business licenses of any taxi companies that does not take action against the vandalizing protesters.”
That’s pretty much what we’ve come to expect of Ahok – a clear, unambiguous threat to those who would cause trouble for Jakarta.
However, we do wonder how any taxi company can realistically hope to find and punish every one of their drivers involved in today’s protests, considering how many were involved and with varying degrees of violence. It’s a huge mess and it’s likely to change the face of public transportation in Jakara forever.
