JurnalPost.com – Indonesia will propose a new capital city on the island of Borneo and will be built in just five years and without the need to raze any protected rainforest, a government official claims. President Joko Widodo has declared his intention to relocate the capital from the bustling, traffic-choked and polluted metropolis of Jakarta since his April 17 re-election. While the idea of moving the capital has been floated by previous presidents, Widodo says he is serious about doing it.
There is a negative stigma or stereotype about Kalimantan that is actually made by the government itself. One of the ex journalists said ‘Kalimantan is the place where genies, kuntilanak, genderuwo are dumped’. This narrative that hurts the feelings of the people of Kalimantan is the result of years of unequal government policies. Although the government is currently planning to move the center of government to Kalimantan, the narrative will remain as long as the approach used continues to marginalize local communities and indigenous peoples.
In fact, There is certains beauty in Kalimantan. Borneo Island is included in the Sunda Islands, which is the name for the western islands of the archipelago. Located on the Equator, Borneo Island was born into a fertile region.
Kalimantan is not entirely what people who have never been here think it is, on the other side Kalimantan is known as one of the lungs of the world because of its wide forests, although dominated by forests Kalimantan is also the same as the regions on other islands that have the developed capital city, there are shopping centers such as malls, playgrounds, beaches, large stadiums, port, roadway, flyover, and delicious culinary delights like a typical city in general.
There are international airports too with a city situation that is not much different from the big cities in Java. East Kalimantan’s natural resources, consisting of forests, plantations, agriculture, fisheries, and mining, are considered the largest contributor of foreign exchange to the central government. More than 40% of East Kalimantan’s economic growth is due to mining, especially oil and gas.
President Joko Widodo has made a decision that Kutai Kartanegara and Penajam Paser Utara will be the most suitable places to place the new capital city to replace DKI Jakarta. The President stated that several factors influenced the selection of the location in East Kalimantan: Minimal risk of disasters (landslides, volcanoes, forest fires, earthquakes, tsunamis, and floods), situated in the center of Indonesia, the location is strategic, situated close to two developed cities, Balikpapan and Samarinda. Major infrastructure includes the Trans-Kalimantan and Balikpapan-Samarinda highways, airports in Samarinda and Balikpapan, Kariangau Container Terminal Port Balikpapan, and Semayang Port Samarinda. Its infrastructure is comparatively complete. There are 180,000 hectares of land under government control.
There are many areas that can be developed into industrialized areas in Kalimantan. Seeing that the culture is still strong to interfere the development makes some areas so difficult to access. Hopefully with the relocation of the new capital city to East Kalimantan this can be a momentum for the equalization of development in Indonesia not only around Kalimantan but also Indonesia as a whole.
Oleh : Julia Fiddianty and Zalfaa Shafira
International Relations, Mulawarman University