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What if the capital of Indonesia is on Riau Islands?
The fact remains that the Riau Islands province is steeped with a history of trade and expansion of empires due to its strategic location.
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Pioneering point: People visit “ground zero” of Nusantara, the new capital city to be developed in Sepaku district in North Penajam Paser, East Kalimantan, on Aug. 17. The nation’s new capital has reportedly been designed as a sustainable city. (Antara/Bayu Pratama S.)
T
he Riau Islands is one of the richest provinces in Indonesia, strategically located within the crucial maritime crossroads connecting the Straits of Malacca and Singapore to the South China Sea. Historically, it was once part of Srivijaya, Majapahit, the Malacca sultanate and the Johor-Riau empire.
The breakup of the Johor-Riau empire in 1824 has divided this once formidable sultanate into two: the sultanate of Johor which is now part of Malaysia and the Riau-Lingga sultanate which was dissolved by the Dutch in 1911.
The fact remains that the Riau Islands province is steeped with a history of trade and expansion of empires due to its strategic location.
Today, the capital of the Riau Islands province is Tanjung Pinang on Bintan Island. Batam is the largest city in the province located a mere 13 kilometers south of downtown Singapore. Malaysia’s Johor Bahru is situated not too far away from the province.
As the Straits of Malacca and Singapore are two of the busiest shipping ways in the world, the ports of Singapore and Tanjung Pelepas in Johor are listed in top 20 busiest ports in the world by the World Shipping Council. The port of Batam is reported to be one of the busiest in Indonesia, aside from Tanjung Priok and Tanjung Perak in Java.
The Jokowi administration has announced in 2019 that Indonesia will be building a new capital, Nusantara, deep in the jungles of East Kalimantan. The construction of this grand project has now commenced and the first batch of migration from Jakarta to Nusantara is projected to take place in 2024.
Many nations have moved or are planning to relocate their capitals. Myanmar, for instance, has moved its capital from Yangon to Naypyidaw in 2012, Ivory Coast moved its capital from Abidjan to Yamoussoukro in 1983 and Australia transferred its seat of the government from Melbourne to Canberra in 1927. Malaysia did the same when the administration was transferred to Putrajaya in 2001, while Kuala Lumpur remains the national capital of the country.
