TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Ministry of Human Rights is urging online taxi or online ojek application companies to immediately modify their current partnership model. The Ministry asserts that the existing arrangement unfairly favors the application companies, placing drivers in an inferior position.
"The current partnership model must not be continued or maintained," said Munafrizal Manan, Director General of Human Rights Services and Compliance, during a press conference on Tuesday, July 1, 2025.
In the Brief Report on Follow-up of Human Rights Complaint Handling on Issues of Online Ojek Drivers in 2025, the ministry outlines several critical recommendations for these companies.
One of the recommendations is that application companies must be more transparent regarding the 5% tariff reduction scheme, ensuring these funds are genuinely used for drivers' benefit. Additionally, the Ministry urges the implementation of an emergency safety feature or panic button within the application to safeguard both drivers and passengers.
"If this continues, it demonstrates a malicious intent by the application companies to deliberately violate the human rights of online ojek drivers," Munafrizal emphasized.
During the press conference, Munafrizal presented three core pillars for improving the partnership between application companies and drivers:
The ministry highlights three main areas where application companies must improve to ensure human rights are respected:
1. Fair and Decent Treatment in Working Relationships: Application companies must ensure drivers receive fair and decent remuneration and treatment, including protection from discriminatory practices and access to social guarantees that support their self-development. The ministry believes the term "partner" is often used to avoid employer obligations, even though companies effectively manage drivers' work.
2. Transparency of Application System and Fund Allocation: Companies are required to be transparent and accountable for how the 5% tariff reduction is used, ensuring it benefits drivers. The ministry report stresses that a lack of transparency in the application system, including incentive programs, pressures drivers into accepting disadvantageous schemes. Regular commission deductions of 20% plus program deductions of up to Rp3,000 per trip are deemed burdensome for drivers.
3. Improved Safety and Protection: Application companies must integrate a panic button or similar feature to enhance the safety and comfort of both drivers and passengers in dangerous situations. The report underscores drivers' vulnerability to sexual harassment, unknowingly carrying illegal goods, and robberies, often without adequate protection or support from the application companies.
Munafrizal concluded that the current partnership model is characterized by a "power imbalance," where application companies hold a higher, dominant, and decisive bargaining position.
This situation forces online ojek drivers to accept one-sided schemes, whether voluntarily or under duress. "The relationship between the two is not purely a partnership, but rather a form of subordination," Munafrizal asserted.
Earlier, Munafrizal had met with the National Motorcycle Taxi Coalition regarding the perceived imbalance in regulatory treatment. Following this meeting, on May 23, 2025, the Ministry of Human Rights established a team to investigate the issue and propose solutions for online ojek drivers.
"They feel that the partnership system applied in the working relationship between online ojek drivers and application companies is inadequate in providing them with the expected welfare," Munafrizal stated.
He added that this sentiment formed the basis for the ministry's deeper investigation, leading to the formation of the team and the subsequent recommendations to application companies as a resolution to this case.
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