The IKN Disorot Negative Media Foreign: PKS Asks The Government Not To Compact, PPP Says Bloomberg Is Again 'Nnyir'

JAKARTA - Several foreign media highlighted the negative development of IKN Nusantara. The opposition supported the news while the coalition clearly parried. Member of Commission II of the DPR RI PKS Faction, Mardani Ali Sera, highlighted the negative news of IKN Nusantara by foreign media, Bloomberg and The Strait Times regarding an article entitled "Ambitious plans to build Indonesia a new capital city are falling apart".

Mardani said that from the start his party had warned of the risk of the IKN project if the government continued to insist when the Indonesian economy was still absent after COVID-19. However, he said, the government actually poured thousands of trillions of money into IKN.

"From the start, this is a risky project, the timing is not right, especially the support of the state budget," said Mardani, Thursday, December 8. Mardani also advised the government to review and not to force the relocation of the nation's capital city to East Kalimantan in 2024, as President Jokowi's ambitions.

"Re-tinjau (transfer IKN), don't force 2024," he said. According to him, this news should be used as a lesson for the government to think about what is most beneficial for its people. Moreover, IKN Nusantara seems to be an 'affected' project.

"This is a lesson for all leaders to put the brakes on the ambition to make projects mega but not needed by the people," said the chairman of the PKS DPP.

PPP's attitude

PPP actually responded casually to Bloomberg news. The Kaaba Party considers foreign media to be sarcastic because it is anxious that Indonesia will bring down the economies of foreign countries, especially those that do not get nickel. "The Bloombergnyinir report immediately went viral. The opposition group immediately made a Bloomberg report to criticize Jokowi regarding IKN. They do not believe in President Jokowi's statement at the Bali G20 Summit forum. That now many investors will participate in building the State Capital (IKN)," said Member of Commission XI DPR from the PPP faction, Amir Uskara.

At the Forum, Amir continued, President Jokowi stated that the interest of IKN investors has increased more than 25 times from the original one since the declaration of the new capital, 3 years ago. "Many parties, both at home and abroad, accuse the IKN project of being Jokowi's ambition. They do not know that the new capital project, long ago, has been initiated and formulated by the founders of the nation led by the proclaimer Bung Karno. The first President of the Republic of Indonesia has a long vision," he explained.

According to Amir, Bung Karno's ideas that are currently being implemented by Jokowi seem to make some neighboring countries and friends worried and worried that Indonesia will bring down their economy. Because Indonesia is a country rich in natural resources. "If this natural resource is fully controlled by Indonesia, there are countries that are economically threatened. Such as Singapore, Japan, and Western Europe, which have been enjoying a huge profit from the 'nickel industry' whose raw materials are from Indonesia," said the Deputy Chairperson of PPP.

Jokowi said, added Amir, nickel originating from Indonesia, used to be 'forced to be exported' abroad (LN). Meanwhile, Indonesia only received 15 billion USD from exports of nickel ore. "Once the export is prohibited, then nickel is processed domestically, Indonesia gets 300 billion USD. Extraordinary! As a result, Western Europe is angry. They complained about the nickel case to the WTO (World Trade Organization). In the WTO court, Indonesia lost," said the member of the financial commission.

Amir said that Jokowi did not want to lose but the plaintiffs' countries also did not want to give in. By utilizing the mass media, including Bloomberg.com and the Strait Times, they began to discredit Indonesia. "And what is easy to'singular' them is about the above IKN. Thus, it is reasonable to suspect that the degradation of the mass media against IKN is a form of their anger over the ban on nickel exports, and WTO is the gong," concluded Amir Uskara.

The bad news regarding IKN Nusantara was previously revealed by the economic media Bloomberg and The Strait Times. The foreign media said that IKN Nusantara was still not in demand by investors. Bloomberg also quipped how the IKN Nusantara brochures looked attractive, but the financing was still unclear.

"What they didn't clearly show is where Indonesia will find USD 34 billion to build a new capital city from scratch," wrote Bloomberg in an article entitled "Ambitious Plans to Build Indonesia a Brand New Capital City Are Falling Apartment", quoted Wednesday, December 7.

Bloomberg also highlighted President Jokowi's period of only 18 months left. After three years of the IKN project announced, none of the investors are fully committed to financing this project.

On December 2, 2022, President Jokowi said there was a high demand for investment in IKN, but Bloomberg noted that it was not yet clear whether any binding contracts had been signed. A number of companies from China, South Korea, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates have just signed a letter of intent.

Another thing that is also highlighted by Bloomberg is the problem of slow corruption, chronicism, and bureaucrats in Indonesia, as well as economic growth that is less strong than Vietnam and the Philippines.