Indonesian future capital proposal

A proposal to move 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 be separated from the urban, economic and commercial center of the country. Former president 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]

1. Move the national capital altogether by creating a new planned city, similar to the way that Brazil moved its capital from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia, a planned city, in 1960
2. Create a separate administrative center and keep Jakarta as the official capital, in same fashion like Malaysia moved the federal administrative center to Putrajaya
3. Keep Jakarta as both capital and administrative center,^[4] just like Tokyo.

Proposed new capitals

These are some options on the approach to create a new national capital:

If the first option to create a completely new capital away from Jakarta would be chosen, then the island of Kalimantan is considered as a suitable location. The island is vast and away from Indonesian tectonic convergent boundary, which means it is relatively safe from earthquake and volcanic eruption. The suggested locations include:

• Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan. Since it was established as the capital of Central Kalimantan province in 1957, the first president of Indonesia, Sukarno, outlined a plan to develop Palangkaraya as the future capital of Indonesia. Palangkaraya is far larger in area than Jakarta and safe from the danger of earthquakes and volcanoes, common on the island of Java.^[5]
• Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan. Compared to Palangkaraya, Banjarmasin is located closer to the center of the country, has better access to the Java Sea and has better infrastructure.^[5]
• Kota Merdeka is a planned city located north of Pangkalan Bun town, West Kotawaringin Regency, Central Kalimantan.
• Pontianak, West Kalimantan ^[5]

If Jakarta is kept as the official capital, and the administrative centers would be moved to other location not far from Jakarta, the suggested locations include:

• Jonggol, West Java. Dubbed as the most realistic option to move the capital city, Jonggol is located just 40 kilometres southeast from Jakarta, and has become a planned future capital of Indonesia since the era of Soeharto presidency.^[6] Jonggol is located in the province of West Java, a neighbouring province of Jakarta.
• Karawang, West Java, located about 60 kilometres east of Jakarta.^[7]
• Kertajati, Majalengka Regency, West Java. Located about 200 kilometres east of Jakarta and 40 kilometres west of Cirebon. The proposed planned capital will be connected to planned West Java new airport, Java railways and Trans-Java toll road.^[8]

See also

• Planned capital cities.

References