Observer: The Government Must Have An Online Transportation Application Must Be Alone

JAKARTA - Online transportation applications must be owned by the state to create prosperity for drivers.

If the government has its own online transportation application, the government will have exact data regarding the number of online transportation drivers.

So far, this data is not clearly known, making it difficult to determine the obligation to pay taxes and manage their welfare effectively.

Deputy Chairperson of the Central Indonesian Transportation Community Region (MTI) Empowerment and Development, Djoko Setijowarno, said that if the online transportation application is owned by the state, the priority is driver welfare and convenience for the community.

"If the state recognizes online motorcycle taxi drivers (ojol) as new jobs, then ideally the state will create its own application to improve the welfare of its citizens," Djoko said in his statement, Sunday, September 14.

The discount on the costs charged to the driver, he continued, could be arranged for no more than 10 percent.

However, the current condition, even though it is considered a job opportunity, the driver feels burdened with discounts that reach more than 20 percent.

Furthermore, the application can be submitted to the regional government for use according to the needs of each region.

"The government's focus so far on applicators, not on drivers. One of them is the suspicion that a number of officials dealing with online applications receive facilities from applicators," he said.

In other words, it is possible that the convenience provided by application companies makes the government no longer sees the need to create a state-owned online transportation system.

"The existing policy is more profitable for the application company itself than the driver," he said.