Nusantara to be new Indonesian capital

Indonesian President Joko Widodo. Picture: Getty Images
Indonesian President Joko Widodo. Picture: Getty Images

Indonesia’s parliament passed a landmark bill on the country’s proposed new capital city on Tuesday, including its name, Nusantara – an Indonesian word used to describe the entire archipelagic nation.

MPs sat into the early hours of Tuesday to debate the legislation ahead of a vote in the lower house less than 12 hours later that empowers President Joko Widodo to push ahead with his ambitious plan to relocate the capital from over-burdened Jakarta to East Kalimantan, 2000km northeast on Indonesia’s Borneo island.

Jakarta, which is on Java island, will remain the country’s commercial centre.

National Development Planning Minister Suharso Monoarfa said Mr Joko – known as Jokowi – had chosen the name, which was likely to be approved as part of the sweeping bill that the government hoped would accelerate work on the new city.

More than 80 suggestions were offered from linguists and historians, including Negara Jaya (victorious country), Nusantara Jaya (victorious archipelago) and Cakrawalapura (horizon).

The opposition Islamist PKS party opposed the bill because it had been “rushed”, and warned the new city would soak up more than 90 trillion rupiah ($8.7bn) in state funds at a time when the economy was in a pandemic-­induced crisis.

“Moving the capital needs a long time, especially to prepare basic facilities,” PKS spokesman Suryada Jaya Purnama said ahead of the vote. Relocating the capital also risked “fractures to the weave of the nation”.

The bill’s approval means the government can now create a Nusantara Capital City Authority, and appoint a tsar who will oversee the massive construction program and be answerable to the President. The authority must start preparations for the capital relocation within a year of its formation, including commissioning design and construction work on what Mr Joko has promised will be a “smart, green and sustainable city” across 250,000ha of Borneo, one of the world’s most important biodiversity hot spots.

Nusantara already has an approved design for a grand new state palace, which will include a 170m-tall building “reminiscent of a garuda – the mythical bird that is Indonesia’s national emblem – spreading its wings”, according to local media.

Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani admitted this month it would be “complicated and challenging” to preserve the area’s biodiversity and environmental integrity while building a “future capital city that is modern, cultured, civilised, and reflects ­Indonesia’s core values”.

But Jokowi has made the new capital – an idea raised and shelved by every former president since independence – a cornerstone of his second term in office, citing Jakarta’s notorious traffic and pollution and flooding problems, and the need to more evenly share the economic growth that is now largely centred on Java.

The government has previously estimated its construction could cost $US33bn, and be 80 per cent funded through local and foreign private investment. It’s not clear whether the pandemic, which has already delayed work by more than 18 months, has blown out those figures.

A parliamentary special committee on Monday night agreed to relax initial timelines which would have required the first civil servants and government ministries to relocate from Jakarta within the first half of 2024, the year Jokowi is constitutionally obliged to leave office.

Additional reporting: Chandni Vasandani