Studies Needed on Relocating State Institutions
According to Umbu, Article 39, Paragraph 1 of the new capital city (IKN) bill states that transferring the status and role of the capital city from Jakarta to IKN Nusantara is determined by presidential decree.
President Joko Widodo together with the Governor of East Kalimantan Isran Noor inspected the location of the candidate for the national capital in the Sepaku area, North Penajam Paser, East Kalimantan, Tuesday (17/12/2019).
The derivative regulations of the recently passed Capital City Relocation Bill, which includes the relocation of state institutions, are to be finalized soon. Studies are needed to determine which institutions to relocate in the project’s initial phase.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The gradual relocation of ministries and other state institutions to the new capital city must be done with caution. Aside from needing in-depth studies on their social and technical aspects, selecting which ministries and institutions to relocate first must also consider the other laws that govern the capital’s administrative institutions.
Charles Simabura, a constitutional law lecturer at Andalas University in Padang, pointed out that there were laws stipulating that certain state institutions must be located in the nation’s capital, such as the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and the Judicial Commission. Thus, if these institutions were not relocated to the new capital city, they risked violating the law and losing their legal standing.
“If the capital has been declared as already relocated, those institutions need to be relocated during the initial phase too. Otherwise, the laws on state institutions need to be revised as a consequence of moving the capital,” Charles said in Jakarta on Thursday (20/1/2022).
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Earlier, President Joko Widodo said that during the initial phase targeted for 2024, the State Palace along with four state institutions would be relocated to the new capital city, to be developed in the regencies of North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kartanegara, East Kalimantan. The four institutions are the Home Ministry, the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry and the State Secretariat (Kompas, 20/1/2022).
In Attachment II on the master plan in the new capital city bill, the relocation of state institutions are to be divided into five “clusters”. Some institutions may also not be relocated to the new site.
Salatiga Umbu Rauta, the director of the Center of Constitutional Law and Theory Studies at Satya Wacana Christian University, said that there should be a transitional provision to bridge the regulations on relocating state institutions and other support offices that must remain in the capital. This was because several state institutions were already regulated in the organic law, which stipulated that all must be located in the nation’s capital.
According to Umbu, Article 39, Paragraph 1 of the new capital city (IKN) bill states that transferring the status and role of the capital city from Jakarta to IKN Nusantara is determined by presidential decree. Therefore, to prevent more issues from arising in relation to the relocation of state institutions, the presidential decree must be followed by a presidential regulation governing the relocation phase of state institutions.
Derivative regulations
Febry Calvin Tetelepta, Deputy I to the Presidential Chief of Staff, said that the derivative regulations of the new capital city bill had been drafted in tandem with drafting the bill, so they would likely be finalized in the near future.
The derivative regulations detailed the technical support for developing the new capital, from structural development and funding, to governance, the transition period, and to the relocation phases.
“All technical matters concerning the [capital city’s] relocation will also be detailed in the derivative regulations,” added Febry.
Once the President moved to the State Palace in IKN Nusantara, supporting ministries and institutions, such as the State Secretariat, the Cabinet Secretary’s office and their civil service (ASN) staffers, must also relocate during the initial phase.
House of Representatives Commission II deputy chairman Saan Mustopa said that the sequential order of relocating ministries and state institutions to the new capital city should be based on the Presidential Office’s need of their support. Once the President moved to the State Palace in IKN Nusantara, supporting ministries and institutions, such as the State Secretariat, the Cabinet Secretary’s office and their civil service (ASN) staffers, must also relocate during the initial phase.
Following that should be the relocation of the ministries and institutions that administer government, and then the legislature and the judiciary, as the three embodied the Trias Politica of the capital. “Institutions whose locations in the national capital are regulated by law will also relocate, but the process depends on their readiness,” said Saan.
House of Representatives Commission II deputy chairman Saan Mustopa.
Public policy observer Agus Pambagio urged the government not to rush the relocation of ministries and state institutions. The process must first undergo studies on the technical and social aspects, because it was not just the physical structures that would be relocated, but also the civil servants that work there. The studies needed to involve anthropologists, sociologists, human scientists and technical experts at the very least.
“The carrying capacity needs to be readied too, because people from outside the region will be coming to live [alongside] indigenous communities. There should be no conflict,” Agus added.
He added that the administration hoped to be involved in the project, as more than 100,000 people currently lived around the designated site of the new capital.
H.M. Syafranuddin, the head of public relations at the East Kalimantan Secretariat, said that the East Kalimantan provincial administration was awaiting further discussions on the new capital city. He added that the administration hoped to be involved in the project, as more than 100,000 people currently lived around the designated site of the new capital.
In Pandeglang, Banten, Vice President Ma’ruf Amin asked for public support so that the relocation of the capital city would go well.
“[The relocation bill] has been passed by the House. It has been approved in name, and all we need to do now is to implement it,” he said. (SYA/CIP/REK/INA/KUM)
This article was translated by Kesya Adhalia.
