Unveiling the Impact of Suspicion
In the bustling streets of Indonesia's major cities, the on-demand platform Gojek promised to revolutionise commuter transport, offering a more efficient solution to daily travel. However, beneath the surface of this promising service, a simmering tension has been building between the company and its drivers.
Dedi, who joined Gojek as an independent driver in 2015, is one of many who have voiced their concerns. Dedi, along with members of the Gojek drivers' association, staged peaceful demonstrations outside the Gojek branch office, protesting issues such as pay, working conditions, and over-recruitment of new drivers.
The app used by drivers to interact with companies and passengers was described as opaque, unpredictable, and often changing. This lack of transparency has been a significant source of mistrust among the drivers. Anthropologists conducted fieldwork in three Indonesian cities between 2021 and 2024 to learn about this mistrust towards platform companies, the government, and one another.
Mistrust, it seems, is a strategy for asserting one's own agency under tough and often authoritarian conditions. It allows people in unequal relationships to engage while sometimes mitigating personal risks. For the Gojek drivers, mistrust has helped them claw back some control over their work.
Executives prefer to talk about these tensions using corporate words like 'empathy' when discussing mistrust. Yet, it's apparent that this mistrust persists as long as power and economic justice are denied to those with less.
In August 2023, drivers with the association Forum Ojol Yogyakarta Bersatu appealed directly to the Indonesian government for a regional legal framework that regulates fare structures, delivery rates, and application oversight. This move signalled a growing frustration among drivers, who feel that the company's promises of support are not being upheld.
Notably, in August 2025, widespread protests and unrest related to drivers took place around the country, notably in Jakarta. These protests followed the death of Gojek driver Affan Kurniawan, and despite no specific individual being invited to represent drivers at a dialogue event in Indonesia that drivers perceived as staged, the public outcry was palpable.
Membership in drivers' associations usually requires time and money, which dissuades many drivers from joining. However, the potential benefits of unity and representation seem to outweigh the costs for those who do choose to join.
Gojek's podcast 'Go Figure' aims to provide 'unfiltered' and 'real' discussion about their company. Yet, executives acknowledge that engineers often view drivers as 'scammers.' This perception further fuels the mistrust between the two parties.
The company employs field coordinators or satgas to monitor drivers. Sometimes, these coordinators pretend to be passengers and then reveal themselves at the end of the journey, a practice drivers consider spying. One driver named Sri even took a job as a cepu kantor to secretly report on her fellow drivers, but she grew uncomfortable and quit.
In a bid to address these issues, the Vice President of Indonesia invited several drivers to a dialogue on August 31. However, the move was seen as staged, and the supposed driver representative spoke in formal, 'high' language, which drivers saw as a sign of corporate training and loyalty to the apps, not to the community.
Transparency alone will not solve mistrust, as it persists as long as power and economic justice are denied to those with less. The ongoing struggle between Gojek and its drivers serves as a reminder of the importance of fair treatment and representation in the gig economy.
