Todd Bishop
Indonesian President Jokovidodo announced on the 26th that he will move the Indonesian capital from Jakarta to East Kalimantan in Borneo. Many analysts believe that the current move to the capital is due to the overpopulation of Jakarta and the serious shortage of water resources. However, from the scale of the Indonesian government’s “moving capital project”, it seems that it is not enough to understand the population of Jakarta; the real reason for moving the capital is to balance the political considerations of national development.
Two-fifths of Jakarta’s land is below sea level, and by 2050, one-third of the land will be flooded; the traffic jam in the city will cause Jakarta to lose nearly 50 billion Hong Kong dollars per year… In many media, Indonesia’s move to the capital seems to be only for Soothing the “urban disease” in Jakarta.
The size of the capital is small and difficult to help the capital congestion
The Indonesian government estimates that the cost of moving to the capital will be HK$256.6 billion, of which the government will assume 19%, or about HK$50 billion. The rest of the plan will be invested by private companies; but the Indonesian government has no plans to transfer commercial centers. The investment may not be difficult to attract capital. Readers in Hong Kong should know that 50 billion Hong Kong is not enough to build a subway in Hong Kong; even if Malaysia is similar to Indonesia, it can only barely cover an intercity railway, and it will not be able to complete the capital.
On the other hand, unlike other countries that are “moving near the capital”, Indonesia’s site in East Kalimantan lacks heavy industry and cannot provide sufficient raw materials for the capital construction. To make matters worse, the location of the new capital is not dependent on the sea. After the building materials are landed, they will be transported to the construction site by means of local roads with low capacity. It is destined to soar the cost. In 1995, Malaysia opened Pucheng as a administrative center in the capital of Kuala Lumpur for 40 kilometers. It still consumes nearly 60 billion Hong Kong dollars. At today’s prices, the Indonesian government’s budget is only enough to level a fairly small plot and build 20-30 administrative buildings. It is far from the ideal of “moving the capital to build a city”.
In the context of the rapid economic development of Indonesia, the capital Jakarta is bound to continue to undertake a considerable part of the administration and most of its commercial functions, which will not help reduce population pressure and solve the natural crisis. On the contrary, high-ranking officials are coming to the new capital and Jakarta, and they need to generate a lot of carbon emissions, making Jakarta “Lu Shen” come faster.
Relocation has promoted “substantial reunification” of the country
In pursuit of “national unity,” the Indonesian government did not choose the most used Javanese language as the national language, but introduced Malay as a platform for communication among ethnic groups. Today, “Indonesian” is still the “second language” of most nationals. In order to reduce the conflict between different religious figures, Indonesia’s “Five Principles of the Founding of the People” stipulates that the nationals “need to believe in a unique god”, but did not specify the state religion.
Although such efforts ensure the unification of the Indonesian state, it still cannot shake the status of Indonesia’s “Java Center”. After all, Java Island, with a land area of 7%, gathers 55% of Indonesia’s population, and its industrial output accounts for 80% of Indonesia’s total. Since the founding of Indonesia, except for Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie, who was in power for a short time in 1998, the other six have come from Java without exception. Such political and economic advantages have also widened the differences in Indonesia, and contradictions between different regions are also difficult to avoid.
In the middle of this month, a group of Papua students were accused of destroying the Indonesian flag and were insulted by the police who had come to arrest them as “monkeys” and “pig dogs.” The news spread to the Papua region and triggered local public anger. A large-scale riot broke out on the 15th of this month. The government and the parliament building were arson. A large number of prisoners also took the opportunity to escape. The Indonesian military sent thousands of security forces and blocked the local network, failing to calm the incident in the short term.
This time, the “Movement of the Capital Plan” is a symbolic common sense that the Indonesian government has made to get rid of “Javanese centralism.” Although the capital itself will not bring about economic balance, at least in the short term, the people can give the people a sense of “the Java is not supreme.” The government also hopes that after decades of development, the new capital can play a role in attracting talents and provide talents outside the Java. opportunity.
Of course, the location of Kalimantan also includes the personal political considerations of Zoco. In addition to Java and Kalimantan, Indonesia’s major islands include Sumatra in the west and Sulawesi in the east. However, the development of Sulawesi is relatively slow, and there are no large cities on the island, which is not suitable for the capital. The degree of Islamization in Sumatra is heavier, and most of them do not like the moderateist line of Zocco. On the other hand, Kalimantan, with the Taya ethnic group as the main ethnic group, is in line with the original intention of balancing various ethnic groups; the island’s residents are mostly moderate Islamic believers, and they support the science in the past, and naturally they are also favored by the president.
However, the plan to move the capital in Indonesia has only just been put on the agenda; with reference to the experience of many countries, it is still unknown whether it can be finalized. Intensifying water conservancy and transportation facilities may be the only way to avoid floods and congestion in Jakarta.
