N. Adri, Balikpapan – Carrying kitchenware, hundreds of women in green outfits rallied in front of the Balikpapan Legislative Council in East Kalimantan on Tuesday. They demanded that the city administration revoke its decision to shut down app-based ride-hailing services.
"App-based transportation is not just about transporting people," said rally coordinator Mei Christhy. Her statement was followed by the banging of pots and pans by protesters.
"We also rely on their services to take our children to school and extracurricular courses," she said.
Many home-based small businesses also used app-based transportation services to make deliveries.
"The government should instead push conventional transportation services to improve their services," another protester, Nadya, who is a private employee, said.
The protesters were grouped under the Women Movement to Guard App-based Transportation.
In response to the protest, Balikpapan Mayor Rizal Effendi said the city administration had consulted with the East Kalimantan administration. He further asked the app-based transportation providers to obtain permits from the provincial administration.
"Thank God, the matter has been taken care of," the mayor said via his Instagram account @rz_effendi58. (bbs)