DPR Calls IKN Transfer To Make Development More Even

IKN Illustration/Photo: Between

JAKARTA - Member of the Special Committee for the Draft Bill on the State Capital (IKN) of the DPR RI, Zulfikar Arse Sadikin, believes that the transfer of IKN will strengthen the archipelago's perspective.

Zulfikar Arse Sadikin in a release in Jakarta Wednesday, said another advantage of moving IKN is to accelerate equity.

"Because we look at it from the middle, Kalimantan is in the middle. Imagine if the eastern side of Kalimantan, such as the north coast, the west side of Kalimantan like the pansela (southern coast), accelerates Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua," he said, Wednesday, January 26.

He considered the transfer of IKN to restore awareness to all that Indonesia actually consists of many islands.

"In the future, looking at Indonesia, we have to look at all the islands, not just Java. The building of our Indonesianness will be more visible later when we move the capital city," said Zulfikar Arse Sadikin.

In addition, said Zulfikar, equity will be slow to achieve if IKN is in Jakarta because the mindset that has been developed is that Indonesia is Java.

"If we move, our 'mindset' will be more open so that we are required to pay attention to all islands and ultimately make us equalize development and all regions feel an increase in progress and prosperity," said the member of Commission II of the DPR.

Zulfikar said the discourse on the transfer of IKN had appeared since the president before Jokowi. President Soekarno in 1957 initiated the transfer of IKN to Palangka Raya when he inaugurated the city as the capital of Central Kalimantan.

Then, President Soeharto in 1997 issued Presidential Decree No. 1 of 1997 concerning the Coordination of Development of the Jonggol Area as an independent city, originally intended for the center of government.

Furthermore, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) in 2013 offered a scenario of maintaining Jakarta as the capital city, but planned and built completely or moving the center of government out of Jakarta.

According to him, it was only in the leadership of President Joko Widodo who dared to show his real intention to move IKN.

"With permission on August 16, 2019 before the annual assembly and our community. At the end of 2021 he submitted the proposal for the initiative, regardless of whether it came from the president, what is clear is that the idea was realized," he said.