Minister Says 100% of Ojol Drivers Prefer Micro-Business Status to Employment

Minister of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (UMKM) Maman Abdurrahman has revealed that the majority of online motorcycle taxi (ojol) drivers prefer to be classified as micro-business operators rather than employees. The statement was made after a meeting with approximately 19 representatives from ojol driver communities and associations, including those from GrabBike, Gojek, and Maxim, at the Ministry of UMKM office in Jakarta on Wednesday afternoon.

“I asked the community and association representatives about their status. Whether they wanted to be workers or micro-business owners. One hundred per cent of them unanimously chose business status,” Maman said.

According to Maman, the drivers cited several reasons for their preference, primarily flexibility and the opportunity to run other businesses alongside their ride-hailing activities. “The first reason is flexibility. Secondly, they feel that with business status, they can have other ventures because being an ojol driver is not their only activity. Being classified as entrepreneurs gives them the chance to pursue other businesses,” he explained.

Maman stressed that the drivers’ aspirations support the government’s policy to categorise ojol drivers as micro-entrepreneurs. This consensus, he noted, provides a strong basis for the government to advocate for this scheme.

With this status, ojol drivers would be entitled to various facilities provided to MSMEs, including access to financing through the Kredit Usaha Rakyat (KUR) programme. Maman confirmed that this would automatically ease their access to government financing. “The government’s presence with the KUR programme is precisely to open up financing access for our brothers and sisters who have limited capital,” he said.

He added that channelling KUR to ojol drivers would be relatively straightforward because their activities are already recorded within the digital ecosystems of companies like Grab, Gojek, and Maxim. “Their income and activities are easier for us to integrate,” Maman noted.

However, he cautioned that not all drivers would automatically qualify for KUR. Those with a history of bad credit, such as being listed in the Financial Services Authority’s (OJK) SLIK system with collectability level 5, would remain ineligible under existing regulations. “But there are still hundreds of thousands of ojol drivers who have the opportunity to receive this,” he said.

Regarding the data collection mechanism, Maman assured that the government would design a simple system that does not burden the drivers. The technical details will be discussed with the application companies. He explained that existing driver data from each platform would be integrated with the Ministry’s SAPA UMKM system, allowing for an automatic registration process without the need for complex re-registration.