On January 18, Indonesia's parliament passed a law formally approving the relocation of the capital from Jakarta, the island of Java, to a new city deep in the jungles of Kalimantan.
The new capital is called "Archipelago"
On April 17, 2019, Indonesian President Joko Widodo was re-elected, and less than two weeks later he instructed the planning minister, then Bambang Brodjonegoro, to blow the wind, threatening to move the capital "within 10 years" and suggesting that the new capital would be "most likely not on the island of Java"; on August 26 of the same year, Widodo issued a televised speech saying that "after 3 years of careful study", the relocation of the capital was "a final decision". The location will be a completely new metropolis on the island of Kalimantan, and said that the preliminary work of moving the capital will start in 2020, and the construction of the new capital "will begin as early as 2021". But then, the outbreak of covid-19 disrupted indonesia's move to the pace of capital movement.
On January 17, Widodo revived the topic of moving the capital in a speech at a university, saying that the new capital "will not only have government office buildings, but also a new intelligent metropolis that can attract global talent and innovation centers." He also reiterated the government's concept of a "zero-emission capital" more than two years ago, saying the new capital would be a "low-carbon capital" where "anyone can go to any destination close to it, walking and cycling in all directions."
After the move to the capital was formally passed on January 18, suharso Monoarfa, the current planning minister, said the new capital "will have core functions, a symbol of national identity, and will also be a new economic center." In an official statement later released by the Indonesian government, the new capital was given "strengthening supply chains to put Indonesia in a more strategic position in global trade routes, investment flows and technological innovation". The Indonesian government said it wanted the new capital to become an environmentally friendly "super hub" and "help support the pharmaceutical, health and technology industries" while "promoting sustainable development outside java."
The name of the new capital was also decided at the same time: Widodo personally decided from more than 80 candidate names to name the new capital "Nusantara", which means "archipelago" in Javanese. According to government sources, this name was chosen because "Nushandala" conforms to the characteristics of Indonesia's "archipelago country" and can reflect the national image.
Nushandara is proposed to cover an area of 56,180 hectares, with a planned land area of up to 256142 hectares, located in the North Penayan Basel And Kutai Kata Negala counties in East Kalimantan Province, Indonesia.
On August 26, 2019, when Widodo announced the "final move of the capital", it disclosed a budget totaling $33 billion, but at that time, it was widely believed that the new capital would follow the example of brazil, Malaysia and Myanmar and other developing countries that moved their capitals, only transferring administrative centers, still retaining the status of commercial centers in Jakarta and Java, even so 33 billion US dollars are stretched, and now the Indonesian government has revealed a grand plan to "rebuild a super core city". $33 billion is a drop in the bucket anyway. But as of now, the Indonesian government has not released a new budget for the relocation of the capital.
Indonesia's Ministry of Finance confirmed that the relocation work will begin in 2022-2024, giving priority to the construction of roads, ports and other facilities for subsequent entry, but the entire timetable for the relocation of the capital is "to be determined", and "Jakarta will continue to exist as the capital until the relevant presidential decree is officially issued". Some analysts believe that some preliminary work may start later this year.
According to Saan Mustofa, vice chairman of the Special Legislative Committee on Relocation of the Capital, the management of the new capital during the preparation and preparation of the new capital will be entrusted to a new ministerial body, the National Capital Authority, who will be appointed directly by the president for a five-year term. Many believe that Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, the former governor of Jakarta who is close to the president and nicknamed "Ahawk," will be the first director of the National Capital Administration.
Why should the good end be moved
Jakarta has long been the capital of Indonesia, the largest city and the political, economic and cultural center, but also a well-known southeast Asian city, although the area of Java island is only the fifth in the "country of archipelagos", second to Kalimantan, Sumatra, Irian, Sulawesi, but the land is fertile, convenient transportation, densely populated, more than 60% of the Indonesian population, more than 50% of economic activities are concentrated here, it is reasonable that the Indonesian government should not be dissatisfied with such a capital.
But in fact, as early as the beginning of Indonesia's independence, the founding father Soekarno thought that Jakarta was "not suitable for the capital" and proposed to relocate for the first time to the capital of Central Kalimantan Province on kalimantan Island, and the small jungle town of Palangkaraya, which has a population of only 200,000, has indeed served as Indonesia's "backup capital" for decades. After Widodo came to power, the rumors of moving the capital were even higher than the waves, and eventually changed from rumors to finalities, and from finals to decrees.
The Indonesian government has repeatedly explained the reasons for moving the capital.
First of all, Jakarta, whose population has swelled to more than 10 million, is "sinking": there are 13 rivers in the urban area of Jakarta, and it is bordered by the sea, half of the area is below sea level, in recent years, due to population expansion, infrastructure construction, the ground continues to sink, the average sinking of the urban area in the past decade is 2.5 meters, experts analyze that at this rate, most of Jakarta's urban area will be flooded by seawater in 2050. From this point of view, moving the capital is also a last resort.
Not only that, but downtown Jakarta and the Jakarta-Bandung metropolitan area are the most congested areas in the whole of Southeast Asia, and various infrastructure projects trying to improve traffic conditions are either abandoned halfway or slowly due to lack of money or political parties, and if the capital is not moved, the problem is almost insoluble. Local media complained that ministers and parliamentarians were often attacked for their privileges, but the "privilege" of opening the road in police cars at work was rarely complained about – because they would be late or mistaken if they didn't do so.
In addition, the narrow nationalist and religious fundamentalist forces on the island of Java are stubborn, which not only prevents successive Indonesian governments from promoting certain social and economic reform measures, but also artificially amplifies many contradictions and exacerbates party and cabinet conflicts. Relatively speaking, Indonesia's "outer islands" are mostly multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multicultural areas, and moving the political center away from Java Island to a place with a more relaxed political and social atmosphere, although it is impossible to fundamentally solve the above social and political contradictions, to some extent, it can keep the president and the government away from the embarrassment of being blamed at every turn, and more or less can hide from it.
In the process of promoting the relocation legislation, the government also explained its intention to build the new capital into a "super core", saying that the move was intended to "redistribute the wealth and resources of the whole country more equitably" and reverse the situation of "the country of ten thousand islands, and the wealth of Java alone". Minister MonoAlfa said the move to Kalimantan was based on a number of considerations, including "regional advantages and welfare" and "with the vision of a new economic hub in the middle of the archipelagic country".
Is the step too big?
Minister Monoalfa mentioned on 17 January "the precedents of other countries that have moved their capitals", especially Brazil and Myanmar, in fact there is no shortage of examples of developing countries moving their capitals from commercial centers and large cities, far from saying that time and geographical distance are "double close", such as Malaysia (the administrative center was moved from Kuala Lumpur to Putrajaya in 2003), Myanmar (the administrative center was moved from Yangon to Naypidu in 2006), and so on.
However, practice has proved that even if the "capital relocation from large to small" example, which was previously recognized as more successful, Brazil moved its capital from Rio de Janeiro to the new small city of Brasilia in 1960, it is still found to be expensive, such as Côte d'Ivoire (the capital was moved from the coastal city of Abidjan in 1983 to the small inland city of Yamoussoukro, but in fact the capital was not completed until the 21st century), Tanzania (in 1973 the decision to move the capital from the coastal city of Dar es Salaam to the new inland administrative center Dodoma). In fact, until today, the relocation of the capital has not really been completed), Myanmar (the relocation has been described as "a mess"), is almost always "full of absurd words, a handful of bitter tears".
It is worth noting that the above-mentioned "qianlang" of the indescribable successful relocation of the capital is only a transfer of the administrative center function of the capital, and the status of economic and commercial hub is still retained in the form of a "commercial capital". Indonesia's attempt not only to transfer the administrative functions of the capital, but also to build a new economic, commercial center, super metropolis and "core hub" in the jungle of the desolate island of Kalimantan, which not only magnifies the risks and difficulties, but also simply "finely" - some Indonesian netizens commented on President Widodo's "construction of a capital with easy access by bicycle and walk", pointing to the "blueprint of the archipelago" covering an area of up to 56,000 hectares and the long-term planning area of more than 256,000 hectares in the first phase. Such a big new capital, it takes a few days to walk to commute to a round trip."
Environmentalists at home and abroad have begun to complain that the so-called "zero emissions" in Xindu are just hanging sheep's heads and selling dog meat, and the construction of civil engineering is bound to cause environmental and ecological damage, while the political, religious and economic power groups on the deep-rooted island of Java have begun to warn of "fat water outflow".
Even the name "Nushandara" has attracted a lot of criticism and ridicule, because the "archipelago" has been used more as an abbreviation and nickname for the entire Indonesian country, and some people have ridiculed that naming a new capital in this way is "like naming a gray rabbit 'gray rabbit'".
Indonesian presidential term of 5 years, re-election is limited to 1 term, which means that President Widodo will step down in 2024, and then the "big head" of Indonesia's capital relocation work, I am afraid that it has just begun, whether this can be moved, how to move, I am afraid that it may not be able to rely on only a piece of paper legislation to be once and for all, there is no change.