His May Day speech announcing a cap on ride-hailing commissions at 8 per cent, down from around 20 per cent, may be popular with drivers, but it was another shock for companies. Grab Holdings – one of the region’s biggest players and long a champion of Indonesia’s digital economy – said it would have to adjust its model.
Even Chinese investors, once among Indonesia’s most enthusiastic backers, are raising the alarm. In a striking letter, the China Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia warned that firms are facing abrupt policy shifts, corruption and extortion, all of which were undermining long-term confidence. Beijing is a big buyer of commodities like nickel and other minerals, which is helping to boost growth.
In response, Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa said the minerals belonged to Indonesia and that unhappy investors could look for them “somewhere else.”
A TITANIC MOMENT
The atmosphere increasingly feels like a last night on the Titanic moment – eerie calm above deck, yet deeper danger below. On a recent trip home to Jakarta, I was struck by how packed the city’s high-end malls and restaurants were. But outside those air-conditioned bubbles, inequality is sharpening.