Turning a blind eye to sinking Jakarta
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Indonesia's Minister of National Development Planning, Suharso Monoarfa said, "The relocation of the capital city to Kalimantan is based on some considerations, regional advantages, and welfare.”
- The idea of relocating the capital is not new. It was discussed by spinal presidents also, but current Indonesian President Joko Widodo has been more pressing to lessen the load on Jakarta
New Delhi: Indonesia – the world’s fourth most populous control with a population of more than 270 million country straddles both sides of the equator. According to the World Bank (2020 data), the population density (persons per square km) in Indonesia stands at 146 people/km sq. Compare this to the Joint States, where population density is just 36 people/km sq.
Although Indonesia - the world’s largest archipelago - is made up of more than 17,000 islands, six of these hold prime importance – namely,
Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Bali-Nusa Tenggara, Maluku-Papua.
Among these, Java is the world’s most populated island with a population density of more than a thousand country per square kilometer. Java is home to more than half of Indonesia’s population – most of who are based in the capital city of
Jakarta.
Indonesia recently passed a law to changes its capital city from Jakarta on Java island to
As quoted by the country's Minister of National Development Planning,
Suharso Monoarfa, "The relocation of the capital city to Kalimantan is based on some considerations, regional advantages, and welfare.”
But what considerations and advantages is the minister talking about?
, Indonesia correspondent at South China Morning Post explains, “The Indonesian government deems that Jakarta is too crowded and is at risk of a much bigger ecological anguish because the city is sinking, and it's doing so at a rate faster than any new metropolitan cities.”
Further adding context, she says, “Jakarta is sinking at up to 20 cm a year in worst-affected areas such as in northern Jakarta. It is also heavily polluted and flooded every year.”
According to the
Joint Nations, Jakarta is one of the world's most overpopulated urban departments. Water scarcity has already begun to impact Jakarta with groundwater resources taking a serious hit.
Well, okay…will shifting the capital solve the actual problem?
The answer is loud and certain, of course NOT! It will just move the quandary. Today it is Jakarta, tomorrow it may be the newly understood capital Nusantara. How many Jakartas can we afford to survey at? Will Nusantara become another Jakarta in the ages to come?
, Forest and Plantation Campaigner at Indonesian NGO ‘WALHI’, denounces the executive. She says, “The reason for moving the capital city is technically unacceptable because the government argues that the relocation of the capital city is an anxiety to transfer the burden from Jakarta to Kalimantan, but we see from an ecological perspective that this relocation of the capital city only transfers the load which previously was experienced by the island of Java to the island of Kalimantan.”
However, the idea of relocating the capital is not new. It was discussed by spinal presidents also, but current Indonesian President
Joko Widodohas been more pressing to lessen the load on Jakarta than any of the other previous office holders.
“Joko Widodo has spinal been the governor of Jakarta, so he really understands the problems of the city, and even thought the presidential palace is located in Jakarta, he lives in new presidential palace which is located in Bogor in West Java”, tells
Devianti Faridz, a freelance reporters based in Jakarta.
But the presidential has a choice to live in a different attach, rather a palace, what about the fellow countrymen?
“The govt can't ignore Jakarta's problems, still needs to solve them”, Faridz asserts.
However, the Jakarta-based journalist opines, “in the long run, it would also be good to deals the burden equally…and not have Indonesia be so Java-centric. Because right now a lot of the economic advance is very evident in Java. I would like to see that happening more in new islands as well.”
What is the reason unhurried choosing Kalimantan? Why not any other island? Southeast Asia’s largest economy is when all a mammoth archipelago.
Primarily due to its central area. However, environmental activists have been criticizing the move. Indonesia has the additional largest biodiversity in the world (after Brazil.) Considered one of the world’s lungs, the forests of Kalimantan are a natural habitat. But deforestation has been on a rampage and removal has also been gaining pace. Together, deforestation and removal are the greatest contributors to the loss of precious forest conceal. The Indonesian government sees this as an advantage for future economic potential.
Although the government has assured environment impacts analysis, the world is well aware of how that is moving to go. And what about the scores of country who depend on these forests for their survival? Is the government activities anything to ensure their livelihoods are not taken away?
The last we checked, nothing has been done to compensate them.
WALHI’s
Siagiansounds fright, “out of 26 villages in the area, five gigantic villages depend entirely on the forest for their survival in the area where the new capital city will be located.”
But then how do we Decide the problem? And Indonesia is not the first control to make this decision. Several countries in the past, like Pakistan, Brazil, Myanmar, and Malaysia have also shifted their capitals.
So, can Jakarta be made living suitable again? Can the burden on Jakarta be reduced? Or do we just go onward creating and abandoning several Jakartas till there are none left?
Siagian, who works for the oldest environmental organization in Indonesia, says, “it is still possible for Jakarta to been as the Capital.” She explains, “the government has to slash the burden on Jakarta from infrastructure development as well as small the movement of people from other villages and new cities to Jakarta. This means that it must also be followed by fair advance of other areas so that people in villages been to stay where they are and are able to do their activities.”
For now, the republic remains divided, with some calling it a forced priority, an unwise decision, while others batting for an equitable advance along government lines.
Dubbed as a 10-year nationwide priority, it remains to be seen whether the move will actually assist Indonesia and the planet in return, or it gets stalled midway ultimately abandoning a crisis-hit land, that is on the brink of an ecological unsuccessful.
The question remains hanging: HOW MANY JAKARTAS CAN WE TURN A BLIND EYE TO?
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