Transportation Ministry Land Transportation Director General Budi Setiyadi said the government would focus on carrying out its duties as a regulator and that it was now preparing a more comprehensive regulation on ride-hailing services.

“With this clarification, I hope there will no longer be speculation about a state-owned ride-hailing app. The government is focusing on drafting a regulation, and I will not mix the tasks of regulator and operator,” Budi told a press conference.

Previously, quoting the ministry's public transportation and multi-mode director Ahmad Yani, several media outlets reported that the government was planning to develop its own ride-hailing app through state-owned telecommunication company PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia. “The platform will be like the one owned by the South Korean government,” Yani said.

He said only Go-Jek and Grab had been registered by the ministry as ride-hailing service providers.

He said that the idea of establishing a state-owned ride-hailing app originally came from representatives of the Ride-Hailing App Drivers Association, who demanded the government operate its own service so that the industry was not only dominated by Grab and Go-Jek.

Budi said the drivers complained about their declining incomes as more and more people became ride-hailing app drivers and that they had called on the government to launch its own version. He, however, made assurances that the government did not have such plan. (bbn)

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