New Capital City Designed for 100 Years

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

Daily life goes on on Thursday (29/8/2019) at a coastal settlement in North Penajam Paser regency, East Kalimantan. North Penajam Paser, which President Joko Widodo has selected along with Samboja as the site of the nation’s new capital, provides nautical access to Balikpapan, which is much faster than by land.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The new capital city of the Republic of Indonesia, namely in East Kalimantan, is planned to be a city that can keep up with the times for the next 100 years. The city will be compact, efficient, smart, humanistic, with very low pollution and carbon emissions, and minimal disasters.

The development of the new city must also ensure that it does not cause conflicts in the community. Therefore, participatory dialogue involving local communities or indigenous peoples needs to be done from the beginning in the development of the city.

In a meeting with chief editors of a number of media outlets at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Tuesday (3/9/2019), President Joko Widodo explained that the new capital and spatial layout design will be carried out through competition to get the best design and all will be transparent.

The new capital city will be a city of government, but also a place for the growth of creative and digital industries. "Being like Silicon Valley," the President said.

Silicon Valley is a region in California, the United States, the birthplace of a digital industry. Many industries there have become world class companies.

Of the 180,000 hectares of state-owned land that is prepared as the new capital, only 40,000 ha will be built. The government center will cover 10,000 ha and the first phase will be built on 4,000 ha. A  mosque will be the first to be built, then the presidential palace and government offices.

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

The Balikpapan-Samarinda toll road project at Kilometer Marker (KM) 13 on Jl. Soekarno-Hatta, Balikpapan city, East Kalimantan, undergoes construction (28/8/2019). The construction of the toll road is targeted for completion in 2019.

Regarding funding for the construction of the new capital city, a way will be sought to without harming the state budget. One of them is by releasing a portion of 30,000 ha of land outside the government area to the community individually on condition that within two years it must be built on. The land will not be given to private or state-owned (SOE) company developers. All matters concerning the administration of this new capital will be managed by an authority.

Yekti Maunati, an anthropologist at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), expressed hope that local people would not be marginalized due to the relocation of the capital city in their area.

"The Dayak people have a local wisdom toward the land. It must be explored because it can be a source of conflict," Yekti said on Tuesday in a limited discussion at the Presidential Staff Office with the theme "Relocating the Capital City of the State: Perspectives of Ecology and Local Wisdom (Social Political)".

Condition of the people

According to the 2015 Inter-Census Population Survey (SUPAS) by the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), the composition of ethnicities (according to the provinces of birth) in East Kalimantan, the local population born in East Kalimantan was 67 percent, followed by East Java (11 percent), South Sulawesi (8 percent) and other regions. The composition in the regencies of Kutai Kartanegara and North Penajam Paser which will be the locations of the new national capitals are almost the same.

The National Labor Force Survey data as per August 2018 shows the level of education of workers in East Kalimantan comprised 38 percent high school graduates, 18 percent of elementary schools, 16 percent of junior high schools and 13 percent of tertiary education. From the March 2018 National Socio-Economic Survey (Susenas), the income of indigenous people is lower than newcomers in regencies in East Kalimantan, except in Samarinda.

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

An advertisement congratulating North Penajam Paser for its selection as the site of the nation’s new capital is displayed on Thursday (29/8/2019) on a billboard along a major road running through the regency in East Kalimantan province. President Joko Widodo has selected North Penajam Paser and Samboja to house the new capital.

Herry Yogaswara, head of the LIPI Population Research Center, said that the relocation of the capital city also needs to map ethnic-based local actors or organizations because organizations like this can have a large influence on society, both socially and politically.

Head of the Adat (Customary) Regional Registration Agency Kasmita Widodo said in Kalimantan 4.6 million ha of land is registered in 391 customary territories. This expanse is based on the response of local indigenous peoples\' claims.

The registration has not yet covered the location of the new capital city in North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kartanegara. However, this does not mean that there are no customary territories in the two regencies.

Kasmita suggested that the recognition and protection of indigenous peoples and their local wisdom is used as an initial part in the process of relocating the capital city to prevent problems in the future.

The Director of Population Planning and Social Protection of Bappenas Maliki said the various suggestions became inputs in the process of relocating the capital city.

(ICH/NMP)