A new capital for Indonesia

The different nations that make up our planet have been modifying their administrative boundaries, as well as their capitals, throughout history on multiple occasions; being really remarkable during the second half of the twentieth century, in countries such as Turkey, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Tanzania or Nigeria.
These modifications usually respond to multiple causes, historically linked to defensive and/or purely geometric strategies, in search of the center of the territory. Our most recent history reveals that such changes are promoted by rather political reasons or personal decisions, the latter being the main cause of the transfer of the seat of government from Jakarta to the island of Borneo, declaring the newly created city of Nusantara as the new capital of Indonesia.

                                                                                              Panoramic view of Jakarta, capital of Indonesia from 1945 to 2024.

Indonesia is a republic with a presidential system, being a unitary state, in which power is concentrated in the central government; the highest representative body is the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), which in turn holds the office of the Legislative Power. Its current geopolitical context derives from the clear multidiversity of the country, in which different ethnic groups and religions coexist, highlighting a population mostly of Malay and Muslim origin. Undoubtedly, the transfer of the capital of a great nation such as Indonesia, whose population is practically six times greater than that of Spain, is currently more than striking, but perhaps for this reason it has been forced to decentralize Jakarta as a development pole, as a sign of an attempt to improve the environmental and social conditions facing the country.

Nusantara, therefore, is conceived as a modern and ecological city, designed to address Jakarta’s urgent problems, including the threat that a third of the current city could be submerged in the next 50 years due to uncontrolled groundwater extraction and the inevitable rise in sea level caused by climate change. On the other hand, this project faces social criticism due to the invasion of a territory inhabited by indigenous communities and of great ecological wealth, which is threatened by an unstoppable expropriation of land; its promoters guarantee a new green city, abundant in forests and parks, powered by renewable energies and with intelligent waste management.

                        Infographic of the future appearance of Nusantara surrounded by Borneo’s rainforest. Courtesy of the Nusantara National Capital Authority.

At the same time, no alteration or reduction in the size of the current city of Jakarta seems to be foreseen, without a population relocation plan or improvements in urban and environmental terms; so it is purely a new creation, in which the relocation of the civil servants linked to the current government, close to one million people, is contemplated.

In line with the above, we must bear in mind that Indonesia is positioned as one of the countries with the highest pollution index in Southeast Asia, and the third in the world. This is partly due to its exponential and constant population growth, in addition to the lack of more restrictive measures against the destruction of natural ecosystems by logging operations. That is why, regardless of the measures adopted in this newly created city, the problem persists, for which the National Council on Climate Change (DNPI) has prepared a report on the control of logging and degradation of forests and peatlands, which could prevent the release of more than a billion tons of CO2 over two decades.

                                                                    Independence Day ceremony held for the first time in Nusantara on August 17, 2024.

Undoubtedly all this represents a great challenge that we will witness on more than one occasion in the coming years, always responding to motivations derived from the interaction of human beings with the territory, i.e. purely geopolitical reasons, in search of balance and the utopia of a dangerous ideal.

Bibliografía:

Otto, C. (2024). Nusantara (Indonesia) y Nueva Capital Administrativa (Egipto): Crecer desde cero en el siglo XXI. Cercha: revista de los aparejadores y arquitectos técnicos, 80-83.

Santayana, J. R. P. (2020). Geopolítica de Asia, el nuevo centro de gravedad del mundo. In Panorama Estratégico 2020 (pp. 131-180). Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos.

Muñoz, M. (2008). Cambio Climático y la cumbre de Bali. Ecología política, (35), 19-21.