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Lawmakers fail with bid to avoid move to Nusantara
A push by some House of Representatives lawmakers to retain Jakarta as a “legislative capital” and hence avoid having to move to the under-construction capital city in Kalimantan found no favor with the government.
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Members of the House of Representatives hold a plenary session at the legislative building in Senayan, Jakarta, in January 2020. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
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group of House of Representatives lawmakers failed with a proposal to retain Jakarta as a “legislative capital,” which would allow them to stay in the city rather than having to move to the under-construction city of Nusantara in East Kalimantan.
The motion was proposed by lawmakers of the House Legislation Body (Baleg) during a meeting with the government on Monday, but the latter dismissed the idea and the former ultimately conceded.
The meeting discussed the Jakarta Special Region (DKJ) bill for a law that would regulate what should happen to Jakarta once it loses its capital city status.
“Can we add a special status, for instance by making DKJ a legislative capital […], meaning [some] legislative activity could be conducted in [Nusantara], but the central activity would be in DKJ,” lawmaker Achmad Baidowi was quoted as saying by CNBC Indonesia on Monday.
Debate on the matter brought to a halt the main objective of the meeting – sorting out the so-called problem inventory list (DIM) for the bill – since lawmakers insisted on the motion while the government refused to agree, insisting that all state institutions had to relocate to Nusantara.
Representing the government, Home Ministry secretary-general Suhajar Diantoro rejected the motion, arguing that having the executive move to Kalimantan and the legislative remain in Jakarta was not a workable option.
“With all due respect, please allow the government to differ in opinion on this. The government is of the opinion that we should not be the only ones to be there; we must be there together as a unitary state,” Suhajar was cited as saying in the same article.
