Uber Is ‘Stealing Money’ Through Unregulated Operations, Basuki Says

Jakarta Globe, Deti Mega Purnamasari, Jun 26, 2015

Uber is not welcome in Jakarta unless it sets up a proper office in the country and

 abides by prevailing public transportation regulations, the governor say. (Reuters

Photo/Charles Platiau)

Jakarta. Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama said he would have a meeting with representatives from California-based ride-sharing app Uber only if the company promised to set up an office in the country.

“If they had wanted to meet me [to seek permission] from the beginning, then I would have done it. But now, if they wish to have a meeting with me, they must establish a company [here],” Basuki said at City Hall on Friday.

He added that representatives from the parent company, Uber Technologies, had spoken to him in person inquiring why they were banned from operating in the city.

Uber’s Jakarta operations currently run from a rented office space at the Pacific Place mall in the Sudirman Central Business District, South Jakarta.

Basuki claimed that Uber reaped profits of up to 20 percent from its operations in the city but did not pay any tax.

“They are stealing money in my area,” he said.

Shortly after its launch in Jakarta last August, Basuki branded Uber “illegal.”

Last week, the Jakarta Police arrested five drivers using the Uber app after receiving reports from the city’s transportation agency and the Organization of Land Transport Operators, or Organda.

The police said the five drivers would only be questioned as witnesses not as suspects.

The arrests mark the latest in a series of legal and regulatory speedbumps for Uber Technologies, which is already facing multiple lawsuits around the globe for bypassing industry regulations.