No.12 The relocation of the capital of Indonesia under the Jokowi administration: Issues and government responses

Indonesia is in the process of relocating its capital from Jakarta to Nusantara (Ibu Kota Nusantara; IKN). According to extant research, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, the ex-president, has passionately pushed forward the capital relocation in a short time to add to his political legacy. However, few studies have extensively reviewed the issues of this capital relocation and the ways in which Jokowi addressed these issues and promoted the unprecedented, ambitious project. Therefore, this knowledge report aims to review the major issues related to relocation and the concrete approach that the Jokowi administration took to address these issues by reviewing extant academic papers and web-based local newspapers. This report reviews previous discussions on environmental, social, and financial issues, and the issue of the continuity of government leadership for capital relocation. The report also showed that Jokowi responded to these issues with strong leadership by providing countermeasures and advertising the benefits of capital relocation through various events and statements.

Keywords: Capital relocation, Indonesia, IKN (Ibu Kota Nusantara), Jokowi