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House passes bill to relocate Indonesia's capital
Lawmakers passed the new capital city bill on Tuesday, which will provide the necessary legal framework that will move forward the government’s plan to relocate the capital from Jakarta to East Kalimantan.
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The design of presidential palace in Indonesia’s future capital city, Nusantara, in East Kalimantan, is made by renowned Indonesian sculptor Nyoman Nuarta. (Instagtam/nyoman_nuarta)
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awmakers passed a state capital bill on Tuesday, which will provide the necessary legal framework to move forward the government’s plan to relocate the capital from Jakarta to East Kalimantan.
The move was a major milestone for the government after President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo announced the relocation to East Kalimantan in 2019, citing the need to spread economic development to outside Java, the country’s most populous island, and the need to reduce the environmental burden on congested Jakarta.
The bill’s passage was formalized in a plenary session on Tuesday, with eight out of nine factions at the House of Representatives throwing their support behind the bill.
The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) was the only political faction at the House that opposed the bill, where PKS politician Hamid Noor Yasin said the plan would put more of a burden on the already stretched state budget and feared it would take away the government’s focus on handling the pandemic.
The newly passed bill stipulates that the new capital city will be called Nusantara, a Javanese name for the Indonesian archipelago that was chosen by Jokowi.
Ahmad Doli Kurnia, who chaired a special House committee on the new capital city, said the passage of the state capital bill was the “initial step” toward relocating the capital.
“The new capital city bill is only the beginning [for the relocation plan]. It represents our consensus that we want to relocate our capital city,” Ahmad, who is a member of the Golkar Party, said on Tuesday, adding that the bill would provide a strong legal framework that would ensure the project would be continued into the next administrations.
