August 30, 2017, with the support of the Faculty, together with the “warriors” from Geography UGM intend to contribute to the State by contributing ideas on the discourse of the plan to move the Capital of the Nation, which has been widely discussed in the past year. One proof of the core competency of the geography is its ability to answer the question “Where?” To all geosphere phenomena, including the question where should the location of prospective capital? At a minimum, it is hoped that the discourse discussion will be colored by a comprehensive geographic perspective. Some interesting questions to discuss are “why need to move”, “move the center of government or move the capital city”, “what indicators are the criteria for prospective capital”, and finally be able to answer where the potential location is.
WHY SHOULD MOVE. Discussion of moving something to another place means there are considerations about the area of origin (the capital) and the area where the capital is moved. This is related to Jakarta and the prospective location of the capital city. In the concept of regional interaction, there is thrust (area of origin) and attraction (destination). The main driver comes from the interests of the state (constitutional mandate) to carry out the process of balance and justice development for all people and regions in Indonesia. The fact of regional and social inequality in Indonesia has been long and systemic and even acute. From the time of independence to the present, the situation has not increased evenly, but is increasingly lame. The economic concentration of “cake development” in Java (52%) and Sumatra (28%), even 1/5 of GDP is concentrated in Jabodetabek, has seriously hurt Indonesia’s sense of justice. The extreme road must be taken, one of which is to do a “spatial revolution” by moving the capital. Another push is the importance of maintaining the integration of the archipelago, as evidenced by the system of connectivity between the entire archipelago. Current facts show that almost 60-70% of the orientation of the movement of people and goods leads to Java (check flight data and port loading and unloading). As a result of the weak regional integration system, increasingly pushing developed regions forward, lagging regions are increasingly lagging behind. There must be courage to restructure. In an archipelagic country system like Indonesia, the concentration model of the government service system has resulted in many socio-economic inefficiencies, because all corners of the archipelago must go to one place. Therefore it is necessary to create new growth centers throughout the archipelago, both in the economic dimension (such as the Mainstay Zone, Special Economic Zones) and government services. Everything is done in the framework of distributing more equitable and equitable development outcomes.
What about the thrust of the area of origin, namely Jakarta. Actually this is not an important consideration, because the environmental degradation and the Jakarta area system have also been very severe. It is impossible to move the capital (elsewhere) to reduce Jakarta’s burden and become a solution. By moving or not moving the capital, Jakarta will remain as it is today even worse, because the burden of pushing the edges is getting stronger (Kota Meikarta and Reklamai Pantai Utara Jakarta). It is like Jakarta will be squashed from all directions. So, it is wrong to link the transfer of this capital to the condition of Jakarta. Remember, the contribution of government functions in the burden and mobility of the population is not as large as the economic function. Jakarta will intensify and continue to grow economically, until the saturation point of carrying capacity is exceeded, where congestion and flooding will continue to increase to become a burden on the economy that is no longer able to be borne by the market. If this condition is achieved, the market will seek its balance, and the new capital and other growth centers will be an attractive alternative. In other words, the transfer of the capital will be the embryo of the birth of new growth centers which attract the work of a more balanced spatial economic system in Indonesia. (continued)
The full article can be accessed at: