Indonesian future capital proposal

A proposal of moving the Indonesian capital city from Jakarta to other locations has been discussed since the Sukarno presidency, and also during Dutch colonial era. In fact in early 20th century there was an effort by Dutch East Indies government to relocate the capital from Batavia (Jakarta's old name) to Bandung, although failed due to Great Depression and Second World War.

In 2010, the debate continued about the creation of a new capital city that would separated from the economic and commercial center of the country. The current president of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono supports the idea to create a new political and administrative center of Indonesia, due to Jakarta's environmental and overpopulation problem.^[1][2]

There are three major opinions about this proposal^[3]:

• Move the official capital, similar to the way that Brazil moved its capital from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia
• Create a separate administrative center and keep Jakarta as the official capital, like Malaysia moved the federal administrative center to Putrajaya
• Keep Jakarta as both capital and administrative center

Proposed new capitals

Some of the suggested locations include:

• Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan. Since it was established as the capital city of Central Kalimantan in 1957, the first president of Indonesia, Sukarno, declared his plan to develop this city as the future capital of Indonesia. Palangka Raya is far larger than Jakarta and safe from the danger of earthquakes and volcanoes, which is common on the island of Java.^[4]
• Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan. Compared to Palangka Raya, Banjarmasin is located more in the center of the country, have closer access to Java Sea and has more developed infrastructure.^[4]
• Jonggol, West Java. Dubbed as the most realistic option to move the capital city, Jonggol has become planned future capital of Indonesia since the era of Soeharto presidency.^[5] Jonggol is located in the province of West Java, a neighbouring province of Jakarta.
• Karawang, West Java^[6]
• Kota Merdeka, Central Kalimantan. Kota Merdeka is a planned city.
• Pontianak, West Kalimantan ^[4]

References