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Transcript/ScriptTV Indonesia New Capital
Headline: Plans to move Indonesia’s capital Meets Skepticism, Resistance
Teaser:
Published at: 2/18/2021 AT 9AM
Byline: Yuni Salim
Contributor:
Dateline:
Videographer: Yuni Salim
Producer:
Script editors: KE(1st), MAS
Video source(s): VOA, Reuters, AFP, AP
Platform(s): Web___ TV_x__ Radio___
TRT: 3:12
Vid approved by: mia
Type: TVPKG
((INTRO))
[[Rising sea levels are threatening Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta. To relieve pressure on the ara, the government is planning to move the national seat of power. But the plan is facing skepticism and resistance, as VOA’s Yuni Salim reports in this story narrated by Nova Poerwadi]]
((NARRATOR))
Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, is a city of over 10 million people, with millions more in the suburbs.
It has been the seat of power in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries.
But climate change is taking its toll,
as President Joe Biden noted, in a speech to US national intelligence officials in July last year.
((President Joe Biden))
“What happens — what happens in Indonesia if the projections are correct that, in the next 10 years, they may have to move their capital because they’re going to be underwater?”
By 2024, the administration of Indonesian President Joko Widodo wants to lay the groundwork for moving the nation’s capital to a new city to be named Nusantara, in East Kalimantan Province, on the island of Borneo.
((Gary Clyde Hufbauer, Peterson Institute for International Economics))
((Mandatory Courtesy: Skype)) “I'm reminded of the movement of the Brazilian government from Rio de Janeiro to
Brasilia, and that was a big project, I think back in the 1970s and 1980s. But it took much longer than was originally expected.”
((NARRATOR))
Jakarta, is congested, overpopulated, and by some estimates a third of it will have sunk by 2050.
Indonesia is not the first country to move its capital in recent years. Egypt is looking to do so around 2024, too, to an administrative city just outside its current capital, Cairo.
Myanmar moved its capital from Yangon, also known as Rangoon, to Nay Pyi Taw.
Even South Korea devolved some administrative functions from Seoul to Sejong. But experts say it won’t be an easy move.
((Greg Fealy, Australian National University))
((Mandatory Courtesy: Skype))
“There have been some interesting studies of people who have looked at, compared new capital cities and then looked at Jakarta and I said this is the most difficult new capital city that has ever been attempted.”
((NARRATOR))
Fealy, an Australian expert on Indonesia notes that previous attempts to move a capital have involved the same land mass. Indonesia’s plan to move the seat of power to a whole different island, will be a much larger ordeal.
((Greg Fealy, Australian National University))
((Mandatory Courtesy: Skype))
“And so, it will be very interesting to say it would be a great triumph for Indonesia if they can build that in budget and on time. But does anyone really, is anyone confident that that would happen?”
((NARRATOR))
Other analysts are equally skeptical of the administration's goal to complete the first phase by 2024, including building a new, smart state palace and key ministries in Nusantara.
((Gary Clyde Hufbauer, Peterson Institute for International Economics))
((Mandatory Courtesy: Skype))
“You know you have to move the people. You have to do all the infrastructure and so forth. So, it's not something that can happen under a single term in office.”
((Guanie Lim, Development Analyst))
((Mandatory Courtesy: Skype))
“So, these things are subject to delays and sometimes it is not because you purposely want a delay, right, sometimes COVID comes that’s why everything stops, right. So those are acts of God. And the other thing is land acquisition is very tricky, and these things are not unique to Indonesia.”
((NARRATOR))
Polls show that Indonesians themselves remain divided on the move, with residents of Jakarta overwhelmingly opposed to the plan.
((For Yuni Salim, Nova Poerwadi, VOA News.
NewsML Media TopicsConflict, War and Peace, Politics
Topic TagsIndonesia
NetworkVOA
Embargo DateFebruary 18, 2022 14:34 EST
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
