The Government of Indonesia has announced that its parliament passed a bill on 18 January that mandate the moving of the country’s capital from Jakarta to a jungle-clad Borneo island that will be named Nusantara. President Joko Widodo had announced the plan to move Indonesia’s capital in 2019, in an effort to relieve the huge environmental challenges facing Jakarta, and to redistribute wealth, but the message had an undertone of the south-east Asian nation’s Hindu past.
The Hindu past of Nusantara
The name of the proposed new capital has origins in a story from the 14th century when Gajah Mada, the prime minister of the Majapahit empire and its Hindu ruler Hayam Wuruk, pledged that he would not eat any spice until he conquered all of Nusantara. Mada, in all probability, meant that he would stick to his vow until he conquered present-day Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, southern Thailand and Timor Leste to the southwestern Philippines, which he did and unified the entire archipelago, Nusantara, according to a report by South China Morning Post.
Gajah Mada is also a national hero whose exploits were inspirational in Indonesia’s struggle for independence centuries later.
Indonesia’s history was deeply influenced by Hinduism when Indian traders and priests travelled to the southeast Asian nation during AD 1. The last of the Hindu kingdoms was Majapahit, which remained in power until the early 16th century until Islamic forces conquered most of Indonesia. Indonesia’s national emblem is Garuda, also a deeply respected symbol in the Hindu belief system for being the mount of Vishnu/Hari.
Indonesia is home to the world’s largest Muslim population but it is home also to more than 4 million Hindus. Despite the Islamic rule, several facets of Indonesian culture reflect on the archipelago’s Hindu history. Bali, Central, South and Southeast Sulawesi, Central Kalimantan and South Sumatra are among the regions that house large Hindu communities. Indonesian Hinduism is a hybrid of Indonesian animist beliefs, Hinduism and Buddhism.
Nusantara will cover at least 216 square miles and is located in East Kalimantan province. “This (capital) will not only have government offices but we also want to build a new smart metropolis that can be a magnet for global talent and a centre of innovation,” Widodo said. The name was chosen from a list of 80 names due to its recognisable nature, according to minister Suharso Monoarfa.
Balinese sculptor Nyoman Nuarta famed for his Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK) statue, was tasked with designing the new presidential complex.
Delay in execution of project
The Covid-19 pandemic delayed the legislation that will be implemented by 2024.
Nusantara, the new capital
The new capital of Nusantara, which means “archipelago” in Javanese, will be built in the East Kalimantan area, known for its jungles and orangutan population. The mineral-rich East Kalimantan is home to only 3.7 million people.
According to Indonesian officials, the government has earmarked 256,142 ha of land for the project, which will be executed in the “first semester” of 2024.
Early plans for the new capital depict a utopian design made with the objective of realising an environmentally friendly “smart” city, but not many details have been confirmed.
The day before yesterday, Widodo said the new capital would be one “where the people are close from any destination, where they can bike and walk everywhere because there are zero emissions”.
“This (capital) will not only have government offices, but we also want to build a new smart metropolis that can be a magnet for global talent and a centre of innovation,” the president said in a speech at a local university.
Nusantara was chosen from a list of 80 names, as it was widely recognisable by Indonesians and easy to memorise, the nation’s development minister, Suharso Monoarfa, said on 17 January.
A body called the State Capital Authority, with leadership appointed to five-year terms directly by the president, will govern the new capital city according to the legislation.
Budget details have not yet been revealed in a presidential decree, though previous reports have pegged the project’s costs at $ 33 billion.
Why move from Jakarta
According to Widodo, the change in the capital from Jakarta to Nusantara was owing to the increasing pollution and population in Jakarta. A city of 10 million, the present capital is irredeemably congested. It suffers regular flooding and is one of the fastest sinking cities in the world due to the over-extraction of groundwater.
Parts of north Jakarta are falling at an estimated 25 cm a year, due to subsidence, including even the seawall designed as a buffer for communities.
Jakarta has been Indonesia’s capital since the country became independent in 1949.
However, this move has not been widely accepted; environmentalist critics of the capital’s move have warned it could damage ecosystems in the region, where mining and palm oil plantations already threaten rainforests that are home to Borneo’s endangered species.
Indonesia not first to move capital
Indonesia is not the first country to relocate from an overpopulated capital. Malaysia moved its government to Putrajaya from Kuala Lumpur in 2003 while Myanmar moved its capital to Naypyidaw from Rangoon in 2006.
In 1960, Brazil changed its capital city from Rio De Janerio to Brasilia, a more centrally-located city.
Nigeria too changed the country’s capital from Lagos to Abuja in 1991.
Kazakhstan also moved its capital city from Almaty, which is still its commercial centre, to Nur-Sultan in 1997.
