China News Agency, Jakarta, March 15th: Can Indonesia's "dream of moving the capital" be realized for more than 60 years?
China News Agency reporter Lin Yongchuan
On the 15th, Indonesian President Joko Widodo returned to the current capital Jakarta after his inspection trip in the future capital of Nusundara. His "hearted" move in the new capital became the focus of the country's mainstream media reports that day.
The day before, Joko Widodo led the governors of 34 provinces and a number of cabinet ministers to hold a blessing ceremony at the center of the country's new capital, "Zero Kilometer", bringing together the soil and water samples brought by the governors in a copper large container. In order to convey the hope that the whole country will unite to build a new capital.
That night, Joko and his wife were still camping in a tent temporarily set up in a forest.
In the future, the area where the forest is located will become the administrative center of the new capital.
"Moving the capital", Indonesia's "national dream" that has lasted for more than 60 years, seems to be gradually becoming a reality during Jokowi's tenure.
Why move the capital?
Indonesia became an independent state in 1945.
In the early 1950s, the founding president Sukarno proposed the idea of moving the capital from Jakarta to central Kalimantan.
In the following decades, many presidents of the country also proposed the idea of moving the capital.
But for various reasons it was not possible.
The current capital of Indonesia, Jakarta, is located on the island of Java. Jakarta is not only the administrative center of the country, but also the center of commerce, finance, trade and service. The permanent population exceeds 11 million, and the metropolitan area formed by the surrounding satellite cities has a population of more than 30 million, and the population is too dense. The traffic in the city is extremely congested and polluted.
Over the years, due to overexploitation of groundwater, the ground in Jakarta has continued to subside. At present, half of the city's area is below sea level, and the flood has become an unbearable pain for citizens.
Coupled with frequent earthquakes and frequent eruptions of many volcanoes on Java Island, Jakarta is already a "disaster city".
The island of Java, where Jakarta is located, accounts for about 6.6% of the country, but is home to more than 150 million people, accounting for 54% of Indonesia's total population, and its GDP also accounts for more than half of the country.
The central and eastern islands, which account for more than 60% of Indonesia's total area, account for less than 20% of the country's GDP, and the country's regional economic development is seriously unbalanced.
In 2019, Joko Widodo, who had just started his second presidential term, proposed a plan to move the capital "in order to achieve balance and equality in national economic development".
Where is the new capital?
What will it look like?
After multiple certifications and Widodo's personal selection, the new capital of Indonesia is located in North Penayang Basel County and Kutai Katanegara County in East Kalimantan Province, facing the Makassar Strait to the east, and is located in the geographic center of Indonesia ; Most of the land is forest, the land is sparsely populated, and there are few natural disasters such as earthquakes in history.
According to the plan, the new capital of Indonesia is planned to cover an area of 56,180 hectares.
According to Jokowi's vision, the new capital will be built into a new city that is "green, low-carbon, smart and sustainable", and Widodo calls it "a zero-emission paradise where people can walk and ride bicycles freely, not only with convenient transportation. ', while the new capital will also be a 'smart metropolis and innovation hub that attracts global talent'".
The new capital will be a humanistic smart city that prioritizes citizen interaction and social cohesion, and it will not only become a model city in Indonesia , and will also become a model city in the world.
When did you move the capital?
In January this year, the Indonesian Parliament passed the "Draft of the National Capital Law", which provided the legal basis for the official relocation of the capital.
The new capital was named Nusantara, which means "island" in Indonesian.
According to Indonesia's multi-sectoral plan, the capital relocation plan will be implemented in phases over 15 to 20 years.
Previously, Joko Widodo has repeatedly emphasized that before 2024, the last year of his term of office, important departments such as the Presidential Palace, the National Army Headquarters, and the Police Headquarters will be relocated to the new capital. The new capital is celebrated.
Although the Indonesian parliament, relevant government departments, and executive heads of many places have publicly expressed support for Jokowi's plan to move the capital, and the legislative process for moving the capital has been completed, the country's society still has disputes over the move, and the source of the huge capital needed to move the capital It's also a huge challenge.
It remains to be seen whether the confident Jokowi can realize Indonesia's "dream of moving the capital", which has lasted for more than 60 years, in the last year of his term.
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