For nearly a decade, Djunaedi has spent his days criss-crossing the world’s biggest city, part of a green-jacketed army of motorcycle taxi drivers that has come to symbolise the struggling working class in Indonesia.
After paying the 20 per cent government-mandated commission to the two biggest ride-hailing companies Grab and Gojek, some days Djunaedi might just “get Rp100,000 ($6) to Rp150,000”, he said, scarcely enough to get by in Jakarta. “The commission cut is indeed burdensome because it’s 20 per cent . . . [but] we can only follow the rules.”
With more people trying to make a living delivering food and passengers, and the two biggest ride-hailing companies in merger talks, Indonesia’s government is considering the best way to support a group whose members are — as one minister put it — the “economic heroes driving the economy”.