“We like options, we’re happy with competition,” said Uber via its newsroom. It later ended the sentence with, “And we love Indonesia.”

On Thursday, Nadiem uploaded a 1.37-minute video in which he invited all drivers from Go-Jek's competitors to join the company. Besides enumerating Go-Jek's achievements, he also expressed pride in running an application created by Indonesians. 

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“Whatever your decision is, you are already Jakarta’s street heroes, don’t ever forget that. However, if you have the willingness to support the country, if you have that semangat 45 [national spirit] in you, come and join us,” he said. 

“Our focus is on fulfilling people’s needs for the best quality, security, reliability and affordability; either by two or four-wheeled transportation,” said Uber in reply. The official statement then ended with hashtag #UberLOVESIndonesia.

Uber arrived in Jakarta in 2014, and launched uberMOTOR on April 13, getting involved in the application-based motorcycle-taxi market in Indonesia where Go-Jek and GrabBike are already established. (kes)

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