Soil and Water Symbolize Diversity

Kompas/Wawan H Prabowo

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).

BALIKPAPAN, KOMPAS — A few prayers and a traditional procession to honor the local wisdom is to be part of the initial phase to relocate the nation’s capital city to East Kalimantan. The traditional procession is intended to pour soil and water from all provinces into a copper flask called Kendi Nusantara. The event, to be attended by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, is also meant to reflect Indonesia’s pluralist society.

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The prayers and procession are slated to take place at point zero at the site of the Nusantara national capital city (IKN Nusantara) in North Penajam Paser regency, East Kalimantan, on Monday (14/3/2022). The governors of all 34 provinces have been asked to bring along soil and water from locations of historical significance in their regions. The soil and water will then be poured into Kendi Nusantara. The President had arrived in Balikpapan on Sunday (13/3) and on Monday morning, will proceed to point zero. Furthermore, the President will spend the night in a tent at point zero along with the five governors from Kalimantan.

“The governors from the 34 provinces will be present. We have welcomed several of them in Balikpapan, such as [West Java Governor] Pak Ridwan Kamil, the governors of East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, and others from Sumatra,” the head of the East Kalimantan Administrative Office of the Secretariat, M. “Ivan” Syafranuddin, said on Sunday.

This would be symbolic, said Ivan, because IKN Nusantara would later be built on a site straddling North Penajam Paser regency and Kutai Kartanegara regency.

Ivan said the ceremony was designed to welcome the development of IKN Nusantara in East Kalimantan. The soil and water from East Kalimantan province would be gathered from the Kutai Kartanegara and Paser sultanates. This would be symbolic, said Ivan, because IKN Nusantara would later be built on a site straddling North Penajam Paser regency and Kutai Kartanegara regency.

From Central Kalimantan, deputy governor Edhy Pratowo said the soil had been taken from a number of important locations in the province’s regencies and cities, while the water was taken from 11 watershed areas in the province.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud M.D. indicated that a message was behind the request for each governor to bring 2 kilograms of soil and 1 liter of water for placing into Kendi Nusantara.

“This is our soil, our water. Indonesia, the Motherland. Therefore, we are obliged to safeguard our Motherland. What symbolism lies within this? It is pluralism,” he said. The soil and water also symbolized unity. The people were also called on to protect the Motherland and the diversity within.

Kompas/Wawan H Prabowo

President Joko Widodo's entourage crossed the PT ITCI forest concession (HPH) concession area, Sepaku District, North Penajam Paser Regency, East Kalimantan, Tuesday (17/12/2019). The area is the location of the prospective new state capital.

Aside from the ceremonial prayers and procession at IKN point zero, the President is also to hold a meeting with all governors on Sunday evening in Balikpapan. At the meeting, the President will give instructions on handling the Covid-19 pandemic, the regional budgets and the IKN relocation project.

Jakarta will not be abandoned

Especially regarding the IKN, the President explained that the relocating the nation’s capital was not intended to abandon Jakarta. “There should be no such interpretation because our country is very big with 17,000 islands, 58 percent of its gross domestic product is in Java, the magnet

is now in Jakarta, 56 percent of the population is in Java so there is economic disparity, infrastructure disparity,” President Jokowi pointed out.

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The President expected that, with the development of Nusantara, Indonesia would have a city with international standards that would offer international-standard facilities.

Amid the ongoing process to relocate the IKN, a funding problem has arisen, primarily concerning Softbank’s withdrawal as an investor in the IKN Nusantara project.

The director of the Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios), Bhima Yudhistira, described two consequences of Softbank’s withdrawal. First, if the government wanted to develop the IKN according to schedule, 80-90 percent of the initial IKN investment must come from the income and expenditure item in the state budget (APBN). Second, the government must find a substitute for Softbank.

However, according to central board deputy general chairman Rusmin Lawin of Real Estate Indonesia (REI), many foreign investors were still prepared to handle the IKN Nusantara project.

KOMPAS/SUCIPTO

The Bukit Soeharto Grand Forest Park area in Samboja District, Kutai Kartanegara Regency, began to be sold at high prices. Photo taken Wednesday (7/8/2019).

Records show so far that 18 consortiums of foreign private investors were ready to enter Indonesia and collaborate with 12 of REI’s development companies to undertake the development of IKN Nusantara. The consortiums hail from Dubai, South Korea, China and Hong Kong.

“In principle, they are already serious [about collaborating], pending only the government’s investment scheme,” said Rusmin.

(This article was translated by Aris Prawira).