JAKARTA - Member of Commission II of the House of Representatives Muhammad Khozin highlighted the British media coverage of The Guardian, who called the capital city of Nusantara (IKN) a ghost city (the ghost city). Khozin asked the IKN Authority to work more optimally in order to be able to answer the label.
The ghost city means plyorative, meaning that the future is dark. The label must be answered by OIKN with a more accelerated performance, report all its developments to the public," Khozin told reporters, Friday, October 31.
According to Khozin, the label pinned by foreign media must be used as an evaluative material for OIKN in improving its performance, especially in the field of public communication.
"Because one of the things that are often a problem is the governance of OIKN's public communication," he said.
Khozin reminded that after the issuance of Presidential Decree Number 79 of 2025 concerning the Update of the Government's Work Plan, IKN is referred to as the Capital City of Politics to make IKN development clearer. Supposedly, said Khozin, this Presidential Regulation should be an encouragement for OIKN to improve its performance.
"Political message from Presidential Decree Number 79 of 2025, President Prabowo's administration has a commitment to IKN's development and future. This should be a trigger for OIKN's performance," said Khozin.
Khozin said that Presidential Decree Number 79 of 2025 is also the basis for the roadmap for IKN development which is targeted as the Capital City of Politics in 2028.
"This means that the target must be optimally monitored by OIKN from various aspects, including public communication matters," said Khozin.
Khozin assessed that reports that tend to be negative and pessimistic from foreign media will have an impact on the bad image of IKN and Indonesia in the eyes of the international and local public, if no mitigation and neutralization efforts are carried out by OIKN.
"However, the IKN development ecosystem also requires the entry of foreign investors, a good image must be maintained, of course based on real conditions in the field. Among the ways that can be taken by improving public communication patterns," explained Khozin.
According to him, politically there is no debate for the future of IKN because it is supported through legislative politics to budget politics. Therefore, he encouraged OIKN to improve its performance and communication to the public that there is progress from development at IKN.
"The law on IKN and its derivative regulations have clearly regulated. Politically, there is no debate over the future of IKN. Future city IKN is not a ghost city," concluded Khozin.
Previously, foreign media, The Guardian, highlighted the condition of the capital city of the archipelago (IKN) after President Prabowo's administration. The British media said IKN was threatened with becoming a 'hit city'.
In its narrative, The Guardian said that after three years of IKN development being accelerated during the 7th President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo, this year there was a drastic change that occurred, such as the declining allocation of the State Budget to IKN, slowing construction progress, to the small number of Civil Servants (PNS), around 2,000 people from previously targeted millions of people arriving until 2030.
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