After the government acknowledged Tuesday that it had failed to foresee the impact of rapid technological development in the transportation sector, the streets of Jakarta descended into chaos as drivers of conventional means of public transportation clashed with those of application-based ones.

Taxi windows were smashed, motorcycle taxi drivers beaten and passengers forced out of taxis, as drivers of conventional public transportation and their app-empowered counterparts attacked each other in many areas of the city.

Tuesday'€™s violent incidents were preceded by the latest in a series of protests, with some 12,000 conventional transportation drivers expressing their anger and accusing the government of failing to regulate increasingly popular app-based transportation, which they blame for dwindling income.

The Jakarta Police deployed 6,000 personnel for the rally on Tuesday.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo had ordered an evaluation of regulations to ensure fairness. '€œWhen we made the law, we did not foresee how rapidly the technology would advance,'€ Luhut said at a press conference at his office.

'€œWe also did not foresee there would be [ride-hailing app] Go-Jek, because we only regulate three- and four-wheeled vehicles,'€ he said.

'€œWe want provocateurs to be punished,'€ he added. Government data showed that police detained 83 people from the rallies for questioning.

The government had no plans to block the ride-hailing smartphone applications, he said.

'€œWe don'€™t want to point fingers at anyone. No one is wrong; we just did not imagine that the technology would change so fast,'€ Luhut said. He added that the government expected conventional taxi companies like Blue Bird and Express to also up their game.

The government denied speculations that the clashes had been engineered.

One clash erupted in Dukuh Atas, Central Jakarta, as dozens of Go-Jek drivers began to throw rocks at taxi drivers who had joined the rally. Police arrived on the scene 10 minutes later.

'€œWe did not start this; it was payback for what they did to our friends today,'€ one Go-Jek driver, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Jakarta Post.

The rally turned violent as striking taxi drivers attacked their colleagues who were still carrying passengers, forcing them to join the strike. Damaged taxis and broken glass were seen across the city center, including Jl. Sudirman, Dukuh Atas and Jl. Gatot Subroto.

Siswanto, a Go-Jek driver, was assaulted by taxi drivers when passing through Senayan, South Jakarta. A Blue Bird taxi driver, Hotman, said he had fallen victim to '€œGo-Jek drivers'€™ retaliation'€, pointing to his vehicle'€™s broken rear window.

'€œThey threw stones at my taxi, even though I didn'€™t do anything to them,'€ he said, adding that the incident had taken place at Menteng in Central Jakarta while he was alone.

On March 14, more than 2,000 drivers, members of the Land Transportation Drivers Association (PPAD), took to the streets, claiming that the new technology created unfair business competition for them.

PPAD head Cecep Handoko on Tuesday apologized to the public for the '€œdisruption'€ caused by the rally, arguing that it happened as the government had not provided any solution following the previous protest. '€œWe are ready to compete with them, as long as they are ready to obey the law,'€ he said.

Newly appointed Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Moechgiyarto, who was attending a farewell ceremony with his former subordinates in West Java'€™s capital of Bandung, flew to Jakarta at noon to monitor the simultaneous rallies in the city.

'€œWe are all out [in handling riots]. The crowd at the State Palace is orderly, as is the one in front of the House of Representatives building. We will definitely take firm action against anyone breaking the law,'€ he told reporters.

Iqbal said frictions between taxi drivers and drivers of app-based transportation had occurred in several locations, adding that 60 drivers of app-based transportation had been questioned.

Meanwhile, Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) lawyer, Alldo Fellix Januardy, told the Post that his office was offering legal counsel to 79 people detained by the Jakarta Police on Tuesday, adding that all 79 were Go-Jek or GrabBike drivers and none were taxi drivers. Alldo said 64 of them had been arrested near Senayan when they formed a convoy to defend themselves against approaching taxi drivers. The 64 were apparently released without being questioned.

Separately, Blue Bird Taxi said that the company had warned its drivers against resorting to violence.

'€œWe are still looking for solid evidence [of violence], as most of them are no more than social media posts,'€ Noni Sri Ayati Purnomo, Blue Bird commissioner, said at a press conference.
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