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Flood emergency reignites debate on relocating capital from Jakarta

The state of emergency declared after flooding struck large swaths of Jakarta on Thursday has reignited long-standing discussions on whether to relocate the nation’s capital

Margareth S. Aritonang and Bagus BT Saragih (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sat, January 19, 2013

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Flood emergency reignites debate on relocating capital from Jakarta

T

he state of emergency declared after flooding struck large swaths of Jakarta on Thursday has reignited long-standing discussions on whether to relocate the nation’s capital.

People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Taufiq Kiemas said on Friday that the emergency should be a wake-up call for the government.

“It’s time to seriously think about moving the capital,” Taufiq told reporters. “Jakarta has been paralyzed by the ongoing floods. Administrative and business activities can’t proceed properly. This has obviously worsened the many unresolved problems faced by the city, which I think cannot be solved by conventional measures.”

Taufiq suggested Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, as a potential site for a relocated national capital, as the tiny metropolis of 170,000 people is less prone to floods.

Public services ground to a halt and the business of government was brought to a standstill on Thursday.

Among the disruptions was the two-hour postponement of a bilateral meeting between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Argentine President Christina Fernandez de Kirchner after the Presidential Palace was inundated to a depth of 20 centimeters.

A state of emergency was subsequently declared in Jakarta, just a day before Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in the capital for bilateral talks with the President on Friday.

Taufiq said that relocating the national capital would be a boon for Jakarta, which has been reeling from a familiar litany of urban problems, as well as benefiting underdeveloped regions.

“We can assess other cities that fulfill the requirements needed to host the capital. No matter what, this is not only the responsibility of the government and lawmakers. The public must also support this plan if we are to really consider implementing it,” Taufiq, a senior politician of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said.

Meanwhile, MPR Deputy Speaker Hajriyanto Thohari mentioned moving the capital to Jayapura, Papua. “Although I personally think that Kalimantan is the best choice, Papua is also worth considering.”

“The President must immediately issue a regulation so that the central government will not be impeded by recurring problems such as flooding.” Hajriyanto

Government officials, however, have been none too enthused by the idea of leaving Jakarta.

Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa, for example, said that solving the problems that ailed Jakarta was a better idea than moving the capital to another province. “We should not rush into making such a decision,” he said.

Moving the capital would be neither easy or cheap, according to Hatta, who said he has read several relocation proposals and believed resolving Jakarta’s woes was a priority.

Former vice president Jusuf Kalla echoed Hatta. “I think the solution is not moving the capital from Jakarta, but improving its infrastructure.

“Moving offices is easy, but what about the people occupying the offices?” Kalla said. “It is not as easy as people might think. It will also be useless to move the capital if Jakarta remains prone to flooding, and if poverty and slums are still all over the city.”

“What we need to do now is to deal with such problems,” Kalla added.

Presidential expert staff member Velix Wanggai previously described plans to move the capital as unrealistic.

Other central government officials have said that Jakarta should remain the nation’s capital, claiming that hosting the government would aid local officials in spatial planning and transportation management.

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