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Analysis: Civil servants’ bumpy road to new capital city
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President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo speaks in the State Palace in Jakarta in this file photo. (The Jakarta Post/Seto Wardhana)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi’’ Widodo’s ambition to relocate the national capital to Nusantara in East Kalimantan as his signature legacy will hinge on his success in holding a ceremony to mark Indonesia’s independence anniversary on Aug. 17 in the new city. The major hurdle to the plan is moving thousands of civil servants to Nusantara in a relatively short time.
The presence of civil servants in the new capital is considered important to demonstrate that the relocation of the capital is making progress and moving on the right track. Besides, the civil servants will participate in the first Independence Day commemoration to be held in Nusantara.
President Jokowi has expressed his guarded optimism that Nusantara is ready to host the historic event, saying there is no issue around the city’s physical development three months away from D-Day.
Nusantara Capital City Authority Head Bambang Susantono revealed that the state secretary, who is in charge of the Independence Day flag-raising ceremony, has invited 6,800 people, mostly civil servants, to attend the event. Bambang added that physical development of the new city has reached 74 percent of the target, with construction of hotels and healthcare and education facilities still underway.
Among other ways to prepare Nusantara as the new seat of power is to relocate some state and government institutions along with their bureaucracies from Jakarta to the city. Originally the relocation was to start in July, but the plan has been rescheduled to September because their residences are not ready yet.
The National Civil Service Agency (BKN) has released the list of public entities that will immediately move to Nusantara. They include 25 government bodies and 2,505 civil servants.
The first phase of the exodus would initially involve 179 government posts in 38 ministries and non-ministerial agencies, along with 11,916 civil servants. After recalculation, however, only between 1,740 and 3,072 civil servants will be relocated first.
