Symbol Of A State With Gray Status?

JAKARTA - Jakarta is still the capital city of the Republic of Indonesia (RI). Jakarta's status will not change before President Prabowo Subianto signs a Presidential Decree (Keppres) regarding the relocation of the capital city.

The polemic and debate over the status of the capital city began to be felt when the inauguration of the elected president and vice president Prabowo-Gibran. In addition, there is something that needs to be considered properly, namely the status of the capital city of the archipelago is equivalent to the province in the form of an authority. This means that it can be meaningful without governors and DPRD and has the potential to cause arbitrariness.

The nation's capital is a center of government and administrative state. This city is usually the place of position of the highest government institutions such as the presidential palace, parliamentary buildings, and ministries. In addition, the capital city is also often the center of a country's political, economic and cultural activities.

In the context of Indonesia, the nation's capital has a strategic role as a center for national governance coordination, a symbol of national unity and sovereignty, locations for foreign diplomatic representative offices, national planning and policy making centers and development barometers as well as the country's progress.

The determination and movement of the nation's capital is a very important and strategic political decision. This not only has an impact on the administrative aspects of government, but also affects various sectors of national and state life at large.

In fact, moving the capital city from Jakarta to IKN is not the first time. Previously, the capital city of Indonesia had also moved. On January 4, 1946, the capital was moved to Yogyakarta after Jakarta became increasingly unfavorable with the arrival of allied troops and NICA. The process of moving the capital city to Yogyakarta was carried out in secret at night by train. Government groups including President Soekarno and Vice President Mohammad Hatta arrived at Tugu Station in the early hours of January 4, 1946.

Photo: Doc. Antara

"It's okay"

"It's okay"

"It's okay"

"It's okay"

December 19, 1948, the emergency capital was formed in Bukittinggi. When Yogyakarta fell to the Dutch at Military Aggression II on December 19, 1948, the Indonesian government was forced to form an Emergency Government of the Republic of Indonesia (PDRI) in Bukittinggi, West Sumatra. This city later became the capital city of emergency for several months.

The role of Bukittinggi as the emergency capital ended after Yogyakarta was successfully reclaimed through the March 1, 1949 General Offensive. Although short, this period shows the resilience and flexibility of the Indonesian government in defending the country's sovereignty in the midst of a very difficult situation.

However, as described above, the movement of the capital city in the past was caused by a situation of war after the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence in 1945. Meanwhile, the transfer of the capital city from Jakarta to IKN launched by the 7th President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo (Jokowi) actually reaped polemics and controversy. Starting from the process of discussing the IKN Bill which was called Formappi researcher, Lucius Karus became the fastest record in the history of law making.

The reason is, the process of ratifying the IKN Bill only takes no less than two weeks since the DPR IKN special committee team (Pansus) was formed on December 7, 2021. After the formation of the Special Committee Team, the DPR used effective time for a week. A week later, starting December 16, it entered a recess period for a month until early January 2022.

"The DPR will return to its trial period in early 2022 starting January 11, before the IKN Bill is passed on Tuesday, January 18, 2022. So a week before the recess, a week after the recess, if it is reduced Saturday-Sunday, it will not take two weeks for this bill to be hit by a hammer and ratified into law," said Lucius.

The delay in moving the capital city was acknowledged by the originator, Jokowi. Ahead of the step down, on October 6, Jokowi even advised not to rush to decide to move to IKN. His party asked to ensure that IKN is livable as a city that has complete facilities before finally the Presidential Decree regarding the relocation of the capital city was signed.

Everything is there, it takes time, moving the capital city once again needs time. Just move the house, it's complicated like that, it's moving the capital city so don't chase it so we're not ready to force it, in the end, it's not good," he said.

In fact, in the end Jokowi delegated the responsibility to sign the Presidential Decree on the relocation of the capital to IKN to President Prabowo Subianto. "The Presidential Decree will be signed by the elected president Prabowo Subianto when he officially serves later," he said.

Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi revealed that President Prabowo Subianto was still waiting for readiness before officially signing the Presidential Decree regarding the move of the capital city to IKN. But he confirmed that President Prabowo would sign the Presidential Decree after everything was ready. "Yes, we'll see later, we'll study it, as soon as everything is ready, everyone is ready, he will sign it," he said after a ministerial retreat at Military Academy, Central Java, Sunday, October 27, 2024.

Minister of Law Supratman Andi Agtas explained that there were no targets or deadlines for signing the Presidential Decree on the relocation of the capital city from Jakarta to IKN Nusantara. He emphasized that President Prabowo wanted to sign the Presidential Decree after the DPR and Supreme Court (MA) buildings at IKN were completed.

"It's clear that the president has stated that the commitment to moving the capital city will definitely be resolved by the President. What is certain is that the deadline is because Mr. President Prabowo wants all basic facilities and infrastructure, yes, be it the legislature, executive and judiciary to be fulfilled, that's all," he said.

The signing of the Presidential Decree on the relocation of the capital city raises questions about Jakarta's status as the state capital. This is because Jakarta is no longer a special area for the capital city based on the DKJ Law. Moreover, the DPR has also just ratified the revision of Law Number 2 of 2024 concerning the Special Region of Jakarta (UU DKJ) through a plenary meeting, last Tuesday, November 19.

Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian asked the Indonesian people not to worry about the current state capital. He emphasized that IKN does not yet have the status of a capital city. This means that the capital city of the country is currently still domiciled in Jakarta. The Minister of Home Affairs then referred to one of the clauses in the IKN Law which states that the capital city will definitively move only after the Presidential Decree is issued. Still in Jakarta. There is one article in the IKN Law, that the status of the capital city from Jakarta IKN will be determined by the president's decision, "he said.

Minister of Law Supratman Andi Agtas added that the DKJ Law would take effect after President Prabowo Subianto signed the Presidential Decree on the transfer of the capital city from Jakarta to IKN Nusantara. Therefore, the capital city of Indonesia remains in Jakarta.

He said that the revision of the DKJ Law was only ratified to anticipate a legal vacuum after the Presidential Decree on the relocation of the capital city was signed by the president. "Therefore, we anticipate that once the Presidential Decree is signed, now the election is still the Governor of DKI Jakarta, but if later the nomenclature changes after the Presidential Decree, it should be the Governor of the Special Region of Jakarta," he explained.

"Likewise, members of the DPR, members of the DPD, the DPD electoral district are the same. Now, what was passed yesterday was so that it was necessary to be refined to anticipate so that there would be no legal vacuum later," added Supratman.

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Adies Kadir, chaired the plenary meeting. Photo: Nailin/VOI

"It's okay"

"It's okay"

"It's okay"

"It's okay"

The former chairman of the DPR Legislation Body reiterated that the DKJ Law only took effect after President Prabowo came to the Presidential Decree.

"The DKJ Law states that it is valid after the Presidential Decree is signed, so that the current regional election process is still choosing the Governor of the Special Capital Region of Jakarta. This is just an anticipation, don't let it go before the election. Ahead of the Pilkada on the 27th so as not to cause confusion, who will choose the governor, which regional governor is clear that the elected regional governor is the Governor of the Special Capital City of Jakarta. But, automatically after the Presidential Decree is signed, the nomenclature of the Special Capital City of Jakarta will switch to a Special Region for Jakarta, "said Supratman.

Deputy Speaker of the DPR, Adies Kadir also emphasized that Jakarta's status is still the state capital even though the revision of the DKJ Law has been ratified. This is proven by the mechanism of the Jakarta Pilkada which still uses the current rules, where winners must win 50 percent plus one votes, not like other regions that implement the most voters mechanism.

"Especially for Jakarta, it's 50+1 to win, because in the past the consideration was as the capital city. And in the elections (tomorrow) the mechanism is still the same, it doesn't change just one round or the most votes win immediately. So the revision (this) is limited to cover the legal vacuum. In fact, this is revised so that this election can run smoothly and there are no legal defects. legal vacancy," explained Adies.