Fahri Hamzah: Moving IKN Needs A Comprehensive Narrative

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairperson of the Gelora Party Fahri Hamzah said moving the state capital (IKN) from Jakarta to East Kalimantan requires a comprehensive narrative.

"The transfer of the IKN is a big idea that requires a comprehensive explanation or narrative. Otherwise, the completion of the big idea will be hampered," Fahri said in a Moya Institute webinar entitled The Urgency of Moving the State Capital from Jakarta to the Archipelago, quoted by Antara, Friday, February 18.

Fahri said President Jokowi initiated the transfer of IKN looks spontaneous. Even though it has been well planned, it needs speakers and defenders of the President to defend this big idea.

According to him, what was done to the capital city of a new nation called Nusantara, was actually not just building an ordinary city, but building the 'face' of the country, which reflects Indonesia as an archipelagic country and includes a national historical memory.

"If you only build ordinary cities, many conglomerate groups have done it," he said in a press release.

Fahri gave the example of Bumi Serpong Damai, Meikarta, Bintaro, and many similar cities that have been built easily and by private property companies.

According to him, the construction of the capital city of a new country should not be the same. The capital city of this new nation must be based on a big idea about Indonesia, which can be shared with the world.

"There must be a big idea and a good and appropriate narrative to invite this nation to agree to move its capital city," said the former deputy chairman of the DPR RI.

In its history, he continued, it can be said that the Indonesian people have never designed and built the nation's capital city, including Jakarta, as the current State Palace is a legacy of the Dutch colonial era.

On the same occasion, former Minister of National Development Planning (PPN)/National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Andrinof Chaniago said that the transfer of IKN is a manifestation of Indonesia's transformation efforts.

Andrinof said that in general, big cities in Java are cities whose quality does not increase due to the increasing population density from year to year.

The population pressure, said Andrinof, which then gave birth to ecological and food problems on the island of Java.

Not only that, he continued, the disparity between Java and outside Java was 'multiplying'. As a consequence, the growth of poverty outside Java, particularly in the central and eastern parts of Indonesia, has increased.

"Inequality in human resources is also rising due to the imbalance of superior education centers that have accumulated in Java," said Andrinof.

The solution to all of this, according to Andrinof, is to transform from a colonial development pattern that relies on a single 'magnet' in DKI Jakarta and Java to an equitable development model for the central region of Indonesia.

"So, the single 'magnet' must be 'broken', and the transfer of this IKN is an attempt to break that single magnet," said the initiator of Indonesia's 2033 Vision.

The IKN in East Kalimantan, said Andrinof, will be the embodiment of justice for all Indonesian people, especially for areas outside Java, such as eastern and central Indonesia, which have been victims of inequality.

Meanwhile, Moya Institute Executive Director Hery Sucipto said that with the signing of the State Capital Law by President Jokowi, this nation will make a new history in its civilization.

The new history is the relocation of the nation's capital city from Jakarta on the island of Java to Kalimantan.

Of course, said Hery, in creating this new history there are pros and cons that accompany it.

"Pros and cons are common in a democratic country. With a note, expressing opinions must be done elegantly," said Hery.