Monday, June 7, 2010

Bali Taxi Wars Turn Ugly, Drivers Attack Blue Bird

Made Arya Kencana


Denpasar. The rivalry between a leading taxi operator and a local taxi association on Bali turned ugly on Monday, with hundreds of drivers attacking and vandalizing 14 Blue Bird taxis.

The mob, drivers from the Bali Tourism Service Association (PJWB), went on a violent rampage in Denpasar, damaging vehicles belonging to the Blue Bird taxi company.

“Nine cars were damaged at our office, two in Kuta and three in Sanur,” said Teguh Wijayanto, a spokesman for Praja Bali Transportation, which operates Blue Bird taxis in Bali.

The PJWB accuses the company of exceeding the agreed quota of taxis and of unfairly entering the Bali market.

The angry mob also attacked two television journalists and damaged their camera and vandalized the front of the provincial legislative council office.

One of the injured reporters, Riadis Sulhi, who works for broadcaster Indosiar, filed a report with the Denpasar police.

Blue Bird is known for its high service standards and security. Many passengers opt to use it because of its reputation for reliability, and because customers are urged to report any problems to the company.

The local associations, in contrast, are sometimes accused of unfair pricing and coercion. Local taxis are often more expensive than Blue Bird.

After the street rampage, the mob took the protest to the governor’s office, where they vandalized trees, before moving to the legislative council building.

Hundreds of police were deployed in front of the governor’s office. They used water cannon to disperse the mob.

PJWB chairman Gusti Made Oka Sukranita said that the company had agreed to limit its taxis to 600 “but now the Blue Bird fleet numbers 750.”

Sukranita also said Blue Bird had unfairly entered the market by using Praja Bali Transport and the trade name Bali Taksi, although its emblem and the color of its fleets were those of Blue Bird.

Made Arjaya, of the provincial legislative council, and the head of the Bali Transportation office, Made Santha, met the protesters to discuss the grievances. .

“The agreement is for a team to immediately work to put order into issuing taxi permits,” Santha said after the meeting. But the protesters still threatened to attack the headquarters of Praja Bali Transport in Denpasar.

Meanwhile, the vice president of the Blue Bird Group, Noni Purnomo, said Bali Taksi had a permit issued by the Bali governor in 1994. She also said the Bali Taksi name and logo, which she agreed was similar to the Blue Bird emblem, had been registered in March 2008.

The Bali chapters of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) and the Indonesian Television Journalists’ Association in Bali condemned the violence.

“We urge the association to apologize and pay compensation for the damage,” Rofiqi Hasan of AJI said.

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