Moving the Capital: Ready to Involve Local Community and Enhance Sulawesi

National Dialogue to Move the State Capital held at Bappenas.

The Minister of National Development Planning (PPN) / Head of National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), Bambang Brodjonegoro, emphasized that moving the capital will involve the local community at its new location. In the National Dialogue to Move the State Capital held at Bappenas, May 16, 2019, Bambang stated that the new capital is estimated to gain an additional 1.5 million people in about ten years. This will create a new market in the selected region.

New citizens will come from state officials in the executive, legislative, and judiciary branch, as well as the National Army/Police, along with their family, which totals to around 1.2 million. The remaining 300 thousand are economic actors.

“It is the opportunity for the local economy to enter, including from the surrounding community,” said Bambang.

Bambang said the government has studied and anticipated the mix or intersection between newcomers and local people that will occur during the transfer of the new capital.

“However, when we conducted a site visit, the local people were very enthusiastic. They hoped their region will be the capital,” continued Bambang. The site visit Bambang refers to is the visit with President Joko Widodo to Central Kalimantan and East Kalimantan.

Bambang’s statement addresses the concern of the Head of Demographical Institution of the University of Indonesia, Turro Selrits Wongkaren. Turro provided a reminder that Indonesia learns from Jakarta, which ultimately marginalized Betawi people, making them no longer the natives in DKI Jakarta.

“Local people must be involved since the beginning,” said Turro.

From the beginning means since the new capital is designed. For example, concerning the risk of education gap occurring between newcomers and the local community.

“From the start, the government needs to think about what is necessary for the future that involves the local people,” he added.

Initial engagement, said Turro, can also be done by recruiting them since the physical development of the city.

“Then when it is functional, they are prepared to join as administration and so on,” add Turro.

Local community engagement will also reduce the risk of conflict caused by the difference in ethnicity and religion, especially if the selected location is Central Kalimantan, which is dominated by Dayak tribe and Christianity as the majority religion. If East Kalimantan is selected, said Turro, the risk of horizontal conflict is lesser, because the people in this province is more heterogeneous.

 

Awakening the Economic Potential of Kalimantan and Sulawesi

Meanwhile, Urban Expert Yayat Supriyatna thinks that moving the capital can awaken a new economy, especially in Kalimantan and Sulawesi. Potential development will occur on the Eastern Coast of Kalimantan, should the selected capital is Kalimantan.

He explained that Banjarmasin will be transformed into a metropolitan city outside of Java because it can function as a distribution hub in Kalimantan and be connected with many areas in East Kalimantan, namely Samarinda and its surrounding areas. This process will form the development of new cities in areas passed through by the distribution route between Banjarmasin and Samarinda.

According to Yayat, until today, East Kalimantan has been developing well, with the presence of industries such as manufacturing, trade, and mining in Bontang and Balikpapan.

Then, what about the rise of Sulawesi’s economy, something Yayat also mentioned?

“What’s interesting to study when we start developing, is that Kalimantan does not have stone sand. So, building in large cities (in Kalimantan) requires us to take stone sand from Palu and Donggala, in Sulawesi,” Yayat added.

This, in Yayat’s opinion, is what will cause inter-region interaction, which will ultimately awaken the economy.

“When we move, we need logistics. Need vegetables. Where can we get those? The largest potential will be acquiring them from South Sulawesi, from Enrekang and Toraja. This will foster the growth of new agribusinesses, making the distance closer,” explained Yayat.

Thus, if all this time the economic hub is concentrated in Sumatera, Java, and Bali, next it will be in Kalimantan and Sulawesi.

Yayat concluded that to build a new city in Kalimantan, which may serve as the capital, the focus should not be solely on physical development.

“Rural development needs to be strengthened,” continued Yayat.

The Minister of PPN / Head of Bappenas also underlined that the plan to move the capital does not merely mean moving its administrative location, but also to achieve the goal of equality. All this time, according to Minister Bambang, the economy is concentrated on the Western Regions of Indonesia (KBI) rather than the Eastern Regions of Indonesia (KTI).

“Back in the first quarter, the economic development of KBI was higher than KTI’s. This means not only the west dominated, but also it grew faster. This can potentially widen the gap,” Bambang stated.

 

10 Metropolitans and Stages to Establish a New Capital

Bambang admitted that moving the capital is not the only solution for economic equality. The second thing that the government will do is build 10 new metropolitan areas. Four of them will be established in Java, and the remaining six will be developed outside of Java, namely in Medan, Palembang, Denpasar, Makassar, Banjarmasin, and Belitung. These six major cities will be expanded into metropolitans, along with their surrounding areas, within five years.

The location for the new capital will be decided this year.

“We had a meeting the other day in Bappenas, where we assessed further so that in these two months, we will have a more complete data to be presented to the President, so he can decide on a location,” Bambang continued.

Next year, the government will finish its grand design, so that groundbreaking can begin in 2021.

“We expect in 2024, the new capital is fully functional and ready to be the new center of administration,” said Minister Bambang.

In the aforementioned grand design, the government has promised to mobilize urban experts across Indonesia to design a smart city in the new capital. This is supported by the readily available local human resources to build a smart city.

“Every year there are more than 2000 urban planning graduates. So, we have the professional resources,” said Urban Planner Bernadus Djonoputro during the same event in Bappenas.

 

Photo: The Minister of National Development Planning / Head of National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Bambang Broedjonegoro (middle) along with speakers and moderators in the National Dialog to Move the State Capital.

 

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