Capital of Indonesia

Lithograph of Paleis Rijswijk (present-day Istana Negara or State Palace) in the 1880s.

The Dutch colonial settlement of Batavia (present-day Jakarta) was established in 1621.[9] Initially, it was a European-styled walled city crisscrossed by Dutch-style canals located in a low-lying coastal swamp area. The poor sanitation and weak water drainage system made the city unhealthy, infested with malaria, cholera, and dysentery. In 1808, Daendels decided to quit the by-then dilapidated and unhealthy Old Town. A new town centre was subsequently built further to the south, near the estate of Weltevreden. Batavia thereby became a city with two centres: Kota as the hub of business, where the offices and warehouses of shipping and trading companies were located; while Weltevreden became the new home for the government, military, and shops. These two centres were connected by the Molenvliet Canal and a road (now Gajah Mada Road) that ran alongside the waterway.[10]

In the early 20th century, there was a decision by the Dutch East Indies government to relocate the capital from Batavia to Bandung. The idea was to separate the busy trading port or the commercial centre (Batavia) from the new administrative and political centre (Bandung). By the 1920s the plan to transfer the capital to Bandung was underway. As the city began the master-plan of a well-planned new city, some government buildings, telecommunication (now Telkom Indonesia), railway networks (now Kereta Api Indonesia), Postal system (now Pos Indonesia), defence-military headquarters and many others were constructed and headquartered in Bandung until the present day, such as Gedung Sate which was planned as the government administrative centre of the Dutch East Indies. The plan, however, failed due to the Great Depression and the outbreak of World War II.[2]

On 5 March 1942, Batavia fell to the Japanese. The Dutch formally surrendered to the Japanese occupation forces on 9 March 1942, and the rule of the colony was transferred to Japan. The city was renamed Jakarta (officially ジャカルタ特別市 Jakaruta tokubetsu-shi, Special Municipality of Jakarta, under the special status that was assigned to the city). After the collapse of Japan in 1945, the area went through a period of transition and upheaval during the Indonesian national struggle for independence. During the Japanese occupation and from the perspective of the Indonesian nationalists who declared independence on 17 August 1945, the city was renamed Jakarta.[11]

Following the surrender of the Japanese, Indonesia declared its independence on 17 August 1945. The proclamation was enacted at Jalan Pegangsaan Timur No. 56 (now Jalan Proklamasi), Central Jakarta, with Suwiryo acting as the committee chairman. Suwiryo was recognised as the first mayor of Jakarta Tokubetsu Shi. The position was soon altered to Pemerintah Nasional Kota Jakarta ("Jakarta City National Administration"). On 19 September 1945, Sukarno held his Indonesian independence and anti-colonialism/imperialism speech, during Rapat Akbar or grand meeting at Lapangan Ikada, now the Merdeka Square. The grand meeting would start a period of national revolution in Indonesia.[12]

During the Indonesian struggle for independence (1945–1949), the capital of the republic was moved several times — prompted by political and military emergency — as the seat of the republic in exile during the war. The capital moved from Jakarta to Yogyakarta (1946–1948) and then to Bukittinggi (1948–1949) as the seat of the Emergency Government of the Republic of Indonesia.[13] By 1949, the national capital of the republic was returned to Jakarta.

Monas stands in the centre of Merdeka Square, in the heart of the national capital of Jakarta. Most of Jakarta's landmarks and monuments were built during the Sukarno era.

During Sukarno's presidency, Jakarta was established and developed as the capital of the new republic. In 1957, Sukarno laid the foundation and street grid layout of Palangkaraya as a new planned capital of Central Kalimantan province. Sukarno however, foresaw the new city as the possible new national capital in the future. The vast available area and its geographic location in the centre of the archipelago was the main advantage of the city. Nevertheless, Sukarno seemed to favour Jakarta instead. In the late 1950s to the first half of the 1960s, he filled Jakarta with monuments and statues. Numbers of monumental projects were conceived, planned, and initiated during his administration, including Monumen Nasional, Istiqlal mosque, DPR/MPR Building, and Gelora Bung Karno stadium. Sukarno also filled Jakarta with nationalistic monuments and statues, including Selamat Datang Monument, Pemuda Monument at Senayan, Dirgantara Monument at Pancoran, and the Irian Jaya Liberation Monument at Lapangan Banteng. Although many of the projects were completed later, Sukarno is credited for shaping Jakarta's monuments and landmarks. He desired Jakarta to be the beacon of a powerful new nation.[14]

In 1966, Jakarta was granted its official status as DKI (Daerah Khusus Ibukota) Djakarta, or the Special Capital Region. It promoted the rate of development of government office buildings and foreign embassies. Rapid development created the need for a master plan in order to regulate Jakarta's growth. Since 1966, Jakarta has steadily grown into a modern metropolis.[15]

During the highly centralised New Order regime of Sukarno's successor Suharto, Jakarta was further established as the political and economic core of the nation. Prompted with rapid development and urbanisation, Jakarta attracted large numbers of new settlers from all over the archipelago, with the majority coming from rural Javanese towns. High-rise buildings sprung up, especially in Jakarta's commercial and financial centres along Thamrin, Sudirman and Kuningan avenues. As a result, since the 1970s, the population of Jakarta spiked tremendously and spiled into areas surrounding the capital. The Jabodetabek or Greater Jakarta region has become the largest and the most densely populated urban agglomeration in Southeast Asia.

Proposals to move the Indonesian capital from Jakarta to other locations have been discussed since the Sukarno presidency. Massive overpopulation, coupled with a lack of urban infrastructures such as public transportation facilities; gridlock traffic; encroachment of urban areas replacing open green spaces; spread of slums within the city; over-extraction of groundwater, and poor water drainage systems: all of these factors have led to ecological degradation of the city. As groundwater was depleted, the city slowly sunk lower; parts of Northern Jakarta are below sea level and regularly suffer from flooding. Jakarta experienced massive floods in 2007, and again in 2013. In 2010, the debate continued about the creation of a new capital that would be separated from the urban, economic, and commercial centre of the country. Former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono supported the idea to create a new political and administrative centre of Indonesia, due to Jakarta's environmental and overpopulation problems.[16][17]

Monument built to inaugurate the groundbreaking of Palangkaraya by President Sukarno, dated 17 July 1957. This monument is colloquially known locally as the Sukarno Monument.

Two major alternative approaches have been mooted over the years:[18] One was to move the national capital altogether by creating an entirely new planned city, similar to the relocation of the Brazilian capital from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia, a planned city, in 1960. The other was to keep Jakarta as the official capital but create a separate administrative centre, as when Malaysia moved its federal administrative centre to Putrajaya. Suggested locations for the first proposal have included:

• Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan. Since it was established as the capital of Central Kalimantan province in 1957, the first president of Indonesia, Sukarno, outlined a plan to develop Palangkaraya as the future capital of Indonesia.[19] Palangkaraya is far more extensive in area than Jakarta and safe from the danger of earthquakes and volcanoes, which are common on Java.[20]
• Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan. Compared to Palangkaraya, Banjarmasin is located closer to the centre of the country, has better access to the Java Sea and has better infrastructure.[20]
• Kota Merdeka is a proposed planned city located north of Pangkalan Bun town, West Kotawaringin Regency, Central Kalimantan. Compared to far inland Palangkaraya, Kota Merdeka is located nearer to coastal areas and has better access to the Java Sea.[21]
• Pontianak, West Kalimantan. Located ideally on the equator and strategically located by the Karimata Strait and the South China Sea, in the same region with other ASEAN capitals such as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Bandar Seri Begawan.[22]
• Palembang, South Sumatra. The city has historical significance, as the former capital of the Srivijaya maritime empire; which symbolise the return of the archipelago's former glory. It is also strategically located near the main maritime route of the Malacca Strait, near the other ASEAN capitals of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.[23]

If Jakarta were kept as the official capital, administrative centres would have been moved to other nearby locations. Suggested locations include:

• Jonggol, West Java. Located about 40 kilometres southeast from Jakarta, and proposed future capital of Indonesia since the New Order.[24]
• Karawang, West Java, located about 60 kilometres east of Jakarta.[25]
• Kertajati, Majalengka Regency, West Java. Located about 200 kilometres east of Jakarta and 40 kilometres west of Cirebon. The proposed planned capital will be connected to the planned West Java new airport, Java railways and the Trans-Java toll road.[26] The underused airport has been derided as a 'white elephant' during the 2019 presidential elections and policymakers are under pressure to demonstrate utility for the enormous bills related to the project.[27]
• Maja, Lebak Regency, Banten. Located about 60 kilometres west of Jakarta. Most of Maja lands are already acquired by the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency.[28]
• Jakarta Bay, North Jakarta. In 2013, Joko Widodo, then Governor of Jakarta, proposed to move the administrative centre of Indonesia to the planned future reclaimed islands in Jakarta Bay. This plan is in line with the planned National Capital Integrated Coastal Development; the new administrative district will be located on a Garuda bird-shaped island planned to be built on Jakarta Bay.[29]

Balikpapan is the gateway to the new capital of Indonesia.

In April 2017, the Joko Widodo (Jokowi) administration contemplated the idea of moving the capital from Jakarta. The government planned to conclude assessing potential alternative sites that would be suitable to become Indonesia's new capital by the end of 2017. According to an official from the Ministry of National Development Planning of Indonesia (Bappenas), the government was determined to move the Indonesian capital out of Java.[30] In April 2019, it was announced that Jakarta would no longer be the capital of Indonesia in the future, with a 10-year plan to transfer all government offices to a new capital city.[31] The National Development Planning Ministry recommended the three provinces of South, Central, and East Kalimantan as all fitting the requirements for a new capital, including being relatively free from earthquakes and volcanoes. Shortly after the plan was announced in April 2017, Jokowi visited two alternative locations in Kalimantan, Bukit Soeharto in East Kalimantan and the Triangle Area near Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan.[32]

On 26 August 2019, Jokowi announced that the new capital would be partly in the Penajam North Paser Regency and partly in the Kutai Kartanegara Regency, both in East Kalimantan.[33][34] The National Development Planning Ministry announced that the move would cost an estimated Rp466 trillion ($US32.7 billion), and that the government intended to cover 19% of the cost, the remainder coming mainly from public-private partnerships and direct investment by both state-owned enterprises and the private sector.[35] The planned move still awaits final parliamentary approval.[34]

• List of national capitals
• List of former national capitals
• List of purpose-built national capitals