Luhut's Arguments Use Bule-bule As A Supervisor At IKN

Photo Illustration By Andry Winarko VOI

JAKARTA In 2019, President Joko Widodo surprised the Indonesian people after announcing the relocation of the Indonesian State Capital from DKI Jakarta to the Nusantara State Capital (IKN) in the North Penajam Paser Regency and Kutai Kartanegara Regency, East Kalimantan.

According to the president, the plan to move the State Capital has been initiated for a long time, even since the era of the First President of the Republic of Indonesia, Soekarno. Because, as a great nation that has been independent for 74 years, Indonesia has never decided and designed the State Capital itself.

The President reasoned that the relocation of the capital city had been urgent because the burden on DKI Jakarta was too heavy as a center for government, business centers, financial centers, trade centers, and service centers, as well as the largest airports and seaports in Indonesia.

In addition, the burden on Java Island which is getting heavier with a population of 150 million or 54 percent of the total population of Indonesia and 58 percent of Indonesia's economic GDP is in Java, and Java Island is a source of food security.

"This burden will be even more difficult if the capital government moves to stay on the island of Java," said Jokowi during a press conference regarding the location of the relocation of the capital city, at the State Palace, Jakarta, Monday, August 26, 2019.

Therefore, after conducting in-depth studies, whose studies have intensified in the last three years, the government decided that the location of the new most ideal capital city is in parts of North Penajam Paser Regency and partly in Kutai Kartanegara Regency, East Kalimantan Province.

Three years later, on January 18, 2022, the capital city of Indonesia will officially move from DKI Jakarta to Nusantara, East Kalimantan. This was marked by the approval of the IKN Draft Law (RUU) into law in the Plenary Session of the DPR RI.

Controversy has begun to spread along with the decision to move the capital city to IKN Nusantara. Starting from the estimated budget needed of IDR 466 trillion, development time for 15-20 years, not to mention the potential for environmental damage.

The government itself explained that the source of funding for IKN Nusantara is planned to come from government cooperation with business entities (PPP) of 54.6 percent (Rp254.4 trillion), then from the state budget (APBN) of 19.2 percent (Rp89.5 trillion), and from the private sector of 26.2 percent (Rp122.1 trillion).

There Are 5 Countries Ready To Fund IKN

The Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, claims that there are around five countries that are ready to fund IKN Nusantara. One of them is investors from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates who are claimed to be ready to disburse investments worth 20 billion US dollars (Rp. 287.6 trillion) for IKN.

The Indonesian government continues to try to seduce the private sector to invest in the development of IKN Nusantara by preparing various incentives including tax relief. This is why the government immediately started the construction of the first phase of IKN using funds from the State Budget, and will last until 2024.

The head of the IKN Authority Agency, Bambang Susantono, reasoned that the first phase of development using the APBN is a way to build investor confidence. "That indeed the Indonesian government is very serious about building this Nusantara IKN in the future. Well, in the future, after they see what we will build until 2024, our hope is that later a pattern like PPP (public private partnership), then people's participation through creative financing, blended finance can run," he added.

The spotlight on IKN Nusantara has not stopped even though development has begun. One of them was when the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menko Marves), Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, revealed that the government used foreign workers as a foreman or supervisor for the construction of the Presidential Palace at IKN Nusantara.

Luhut reasoned that the use of foreign foreman was related to the quality of work and buildings. Because, he did not want to see the Presidential Palace at IKN Nusantara being carried out haphazardly and unattractively. Luhut also emphasized that the selection of foreign foreman was carried out after being assigned as the Head of the IKN Investment Acceleration Task Force Team by President Jokowi.

"The quality of the job is the key. Therefore, I have reported the President, our supervisors are forced, with all due respect, we use Caucasians to maintain quality. So that the Presidential Palace doesn't happen later, but the quality is not good," he said during a meeting with the DPR RI Budget Agency, Friday, June 9, 2023.

Luhut emphasized that there is infrastructure supervision because the government's target in 2024 is to carry out a flag ceremony on August 17 there. He also claimed to have identified an offer to investors, namely incentive schemes, business models, development plans, and land status in IKN.

"I have visited IKN many times and offered investment projects to a number of foreign countries including Singapore, which is very enthusiastic. One of the developers from China also asked to enter immediately," he said.

Actually, the government's trust in foreign workers is not new. In 2020 to 2021, the government had received criticism because rumors of thousands of Chinese foreign workers flocking to Indonesia, one of which was in Morowali.

However, Luhut firmly stated that it would be inappropriate for Indonesian citizens to only blame the entry of foreign workers into Indonesia. This is because the entry of foreign workers into strategic industrial sectors is for the sake of technology transfer.

"We can't get angry because we can't get a place, because we have to learn the technology too. So there is a technology transfer," he said, June 22, 2021.

Luhut added that Indonesia has four strict rules in accepting foreign investors to invest in Indonesia. One of them said that investors are expected to educate local workers so that they can play a key role in the future.