It began with a few Malaysians buying meals on Grab for strangers across the Java Sea. Within days, thousands were taking part, from Manila to Bangkok, sending food to Indonesian delivery riders caught in the turmoil of mass protest.
Starting last week, thousands of social media users from around the region began ordering meals via the ubiquitous Grab, which operates in eight Southeast Asian nations, and other platforms – instructing Indonesian riders to share them among their colleagues.
Hashtags like #SolidaritiIndonesia and #KitaJiran (“We are neighbours”) appeared across timelines, transforming what might once have been an individual act of kindness into a spontaneous transnational campaign.
Rio Maulana, a 26-year-old Shopee rider in Surabaya, recalls the moment he realised something unusual was happening.
He had been about to eat his lunch on Saturday when another rider came over with a food parcel and handed it to him, saying it was free. “I asked where the food had come from and he replied: ‘someone in Malaysia’,” he said. It was only later that Rio learned about the growing “Grab Movement”.
