"Fifteen years ago there was a proposal to move the national administration center to Jonggol in West Java, but since the *1998* monetary crisis, ideas on relocating were no longer heard," he said as quoted by Antara state news agency. Commenting on an idea to relocate the country's capital to the Central Kalimantan city of Palangkaraya, Yudhoyono said it would not be practical because the city was too far from Jakarta.

But considering the vast area of Palangkaraya, Yudhoyono said it was natural that its residents wanted to develop it into a better and bigger city. He added it also made sense to develop Palangkaraya, because unlike other areas in the country, Kalimatan was relatively free of natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis. Yudhoyono and his entourage are in the city for a two-day visit to open the Indonesian Provincial Administrations Association (APPSI) national conference on Thursday.

Your comments:

In my opinion, Palangkaraya is too small for a national administration city. Its transportation system and infrastructure are poor. I think Mr. President should consider relocating the national administration to another city in Java that can easily be accessed, such as Surabaya. It's the second largest city in the country and is very accessible.

Yusak
Surabaya

Could this possibly be a case of the captain deserting the sinking ship having steered it against the rocks?

Peter Ramsey
Jakarta

This is my idea exactly, to ease the burden of Jakarta. Jakarta is too messed up to be fixed here and there. The best way is just to move to a whole new city. Start afresh and do it right from the beginning. The infrastructure in Jakarta is disgraceful. Hopefully in the new city (if it happens), there would be footpaths for pedestrians at least.

Monica Kang
Jakarta

I think what SBY wants is not a new capital. Like Malaysia, he just wants to create an Indonesia Putrajaya where all the government ministries come together. Besides reducing the bottlenecks, it will help forge better communication between the ministries.

Gecko
Jakarta

SBY confirms what I said the first time I arrived in Indonesia 17 years ago. Move all the administration and government offices and create a diplomatic city outside Jakarta. It will reduce the number of cars and people in Jakarta and it will help the city to ease the handling of security problems and pollution.

Go ahead, Mr President! As an Italian, I fully support and agree with you! To those who don't agree, I would say: Sorry my friends, the damage is done in Jakarta. The situation is getting worse and worse and I believe there is no other solution.

Albano Giancarlo
Jakarta

Great idea to move the seat of the national government from Jakarta. However, the argument that moving it to (for instance) Palangkaraya would not be practical because it is too far from Jakarta does not sound logical.

If you want to move away from Jakarta why has the new location to be near to Jakarta? Look at the case of Nigeria, where the national administrative capital was successfully moved from Lagos to Abuja. The distance is considerable.

The administration moved to Abudja while Lagos remained the center of commerce.

Brazil is another example. I think the idea of finding a more centrally located administrative capital for Indonesia should be taken very seriously. A town/city at the center of the archipelago would, as well as (perhaps) practical reasons, also very much help to bring much needed political stability.

Henry Manoe
Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara

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