Tough Times for Taxis

An event to officially launch the cooperation on a payment system between Grab Indonesia, an online taxi company, and Bank Mandiri was suddenly cancelled last Wednesday. It was cancelled because Grab had a problem. Two days earlier, Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan asked Communication and Informatics Minister Rudiantara to block the applications belonging to Grab and Uber, companies providing online app-based transportation services.

The new and sudden development caused Bank Mandiri to wonder whether or not to go through with its venture. Bank Mandiri CEO Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that if the agreement went through, his bank would become the channel for an electronic payment system servicing all Grab customers. There was no question the arrangement would bring in profits for the state-owned bank. The event had been prepared far in advance, but now the plan had to be put on hold. "We are waiting for certainty from the government," Sadikin told Tempo last week.