Grab Indonesia ‘deactivates’ partnership with driver for kicking Jokowi supporter out of his car

While politics is often the go-to discussion topic between taxi drivers and passenger anywhere, one driver working for ride-hailing service Grab in Jakarta reportedly could not tolerate a passenger having a different political viewpoint to his, so much so that he kicked her out of his vehicle.

According to reports, the driver, named Anjar Muliono, picked up an unidentified female passenger on Feb 23. After he learned that she was wearing a t-shirt that conveyed support for incumbent President Joko Widodo and running mate Ma’ruf Amin, and that she had ordered the ride to go to a pro-Jokowi-Amin event in Semanggi, he deliberately drove his car slowly and took the least direct route to the destination.

Then, he allegedly kicked her out of his car before they reached her destination, though the exact location where she was told to get off was not disclosed.

The incident was confirmed by Grab Indonesia, who said in a tweet today that they had “deactivated” their partnership with the driver — though there was no mention of the political aspect of the incident.

Hai Kak, kami telah menonaktifkan mitra pengemudi yang bersangkutan dari platform kami untuk melakukan klarifikasi lebih lanjut dan pelatihan ulang agar kejadian serupa tidak terulang di kemudian hari. Kami juga memberi informasi terkini kepada penumpang. -Milan

— Grab Indonesia (@GrabID) February 26, 2019

Hi Kak, we have deactivated the partner driver from our platform for further clarification and re-training so the incident won’t be repeated. We have also updated the passenger with the most recent information.

Though the language in the tweet did not definitively say whether the driver was fired, another statement made by Grab Indonesia today may indicate that he no longer has a future with the Singapore-based ride-hailing app.

“Grab Indonesia will not hesitate in taking stern action against the partner driver by terminating the partnership if the partner driver does something that endangers the passenger,” Grab Indonesia Head of Public Affairs Tri Sukma Anreianno told Kompas today.