Ride hailing startups fight many battles to stay on Jakarta roads

Jakarta

FIRST there were the police dragnets. Then there were the threats of an outright ban to their business. When those failed, there were protests so violent they brought the capital to a standstill. Most recently there is the spectre of a slow death by a thousand regulatory cuts.

Welcome to the world of ride hailing apps in Indonesia. While their plight in South-east Asia's biggest economy has parallels elsewhere, what's different in Indonesia is that the startups have friends in very high places and a market that is going their way.