Anies Criticism Of IKN Development, TKN Prabowo-Gibran: According To The Mandate Of The Constitution Must Continue

JAKARTA - Commander of the Communication Team for the National Campaign Team (TKN) Budisatrio Djiwandono, responded to criticism of Presidential Candidate number 1 Anies Baswedan regarding the development of the State Capital (IKN).

Budi emphasized that the candidate pair Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming was actually committed to continuing IKN as mandated by the constitution.

"The commitment of Prabowo-Gibran is clear, 100 percent of the capital city of the archipelago must be continued. This is for the future of the nation and has become a constitutional mandate," Budi said in his statement, Saturday, November 25.

The member of the DPR explained that the IKN development was a strategic and visionary step taken by the government of President Joko Widodo. IKN, he said, became the initial foundation for equitable development in Indonesia.

"The President has laid down a foundation to start equitable distribution. This can be seen as a strategic political policy that Indonesia has started out of a Javanese-centric mindset," he explained.

According to Budi, IKN development must be seen as a momentum for the focus of equitable growth-based development. Later, said Budi, Kalimantan will no longer be underestimated both at home and abroad.

"In the future, the island of Kalimantan, especially East Kalimantan and Nusantara, will not be referred to as regions, but as capital cities. National and international attention will lead to the New Capital City. Investment will enter, the economy will grow rapidly. Try to imagine the impact on Eastern Indonesia. This is the starting point of an even distribution," he said.

Therefore, Budi emphasized that Prabowo-Gibran's commitment to continuing IKN is an obligation. Because, said Budi, it is a constitutional mandate.

"At the end of last October, the DPR agreed and ratified the Revision of Law No. 3 of 2022 concerning IKN. Re-probleming this is a setback," he said.

That way, Budi added, whoever becomes president has an obligation to implement the law.

"Let us take sides with equity and local communities. Whoever the President will be obliged to continue. And for the Prabowo-Gibran pair, we will continue to commit 100 percent of IKN," he concluded.

Previously, Presidential Candidate number 1 Anies Baswedan, said the Nusantara State Capital (IKN) development project would lead to new inequality.

This was conveyed by Anies at the Muhammadiyah Open Dialogue event at Muhammadiyah University Surakarta, Central Java, Wednesday, November 22, which was broadcast on Muhammadiyah TV.

Initially, a panelist who is a senior researcher from the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) Professor Siti Zuhro questioned whether the development of prospective IKN for Indonesia in the future.

Anies then considered that the reason the government is currently building IKN is not appropriate.

"If you want to equalize Indonesia, then build a small city into medium, a middle city becomes big throughout Indonesia. Not only building one city in the middle of the forest, because building a city in the middle of the forest actually creates a new inequality," said Anies.