Ride-hailing company Grab grabs former National Police Chief Badrodin Haiti for senior position

One of the biggest business rivalries in Indonesia recently has been the battle between ride-hailing tech companies Go-Jek, Uber and Grab. Not only have the three been in fierce competition with one another, they have also been wrestling with government transportation regulators who have sought to clamp down on their industry with increasingly stringent rules.

Well, it looks like Grab has a new champion that will help them take on both its rivals and, perhaps more importantly, government regulators. Today the Malaysia-born company made the surprise announcement that they had named former National Police Chief Badrodin Haiti as President Commissioner of Grab Indonesia.

“As the technology and ride-hailing sectors evolve in Indonesia, Mr. Haiti will play a guiding role to ensure Grab contributes constructively to the implementation of new transport regulations and safety guidelines,” said Ridzki Kramadibrata, managing director of Grab Indonesia, in a press release from the company

Ridzki also said that Badrodin would be charged with monitoring and maintaining long-term viability of the company through an oversight role in which he will evaluate the performance of the board of directors.

Bardodin stepped down as Indonesia’s top cop in July when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 58. He was promoted to the position in April 2015, after President Joko Widodo was forced to reconsider his previous pick for national police chief, Budi Gunawan, due to the controversy over the corruption allegations against him.

It seems likely that Grab chose Badrodin due to his close ties with top officials in the government and law enforcement agencies in the hopes that he can use his influence to negotiate new laws and regulations that would be favorable to the company.

If that’s the case, then it’s possible that Badrodin’s appointment could be a boon for the entire ride-hailing industry in Indonesia, since any regulations that benefit Grab would likely benefit the others as well. Given the difficulty that companies and individual partner drivers have had meeting the government’s stringent new rules, the new Grab commissioner may just help clear the road for all of them.
 



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