Borneo Bound: Inside Indonesia’s Big Plan to Move its Capital

Borneo Bound: As he stands on land where his family has lived for generations, Jubein Jafar worries he will soon be evicted to make way for a presidential palace, as part of plans to construct Indonesia’s new capital city on the eastern edge of Borneo.

Jubein, a Dayak leader, welcomes the government’s plan to move the nation’s capital to this largely underdeveloped area, and away from Jakarta, a traffic-choked and polluted mega-city in densely populated Java that has long been Indonesia’s power center and seat of government.

But he is not sure what this means for him, and people like him, who have long lived on the land, but cannot prove ownership. The government has given private companies concessions over the surrounding forest.

“We may not be able to hold on to our land, what is going to happen with our crops?” Jubein told BenarNews in a recent interview.

The 55-year-old is customary chief of the Paser Balik tribe in Pemaluan, a village in the North Penajam Paser regency of East Kalimantan province.

In Jakarta earlier this month, members of parliament began debating a bill that, if approved, would require the project to be completed no matter who is in charge of the government.

Jubein, like other villagers in Sepaku, a subdistrict of North Penajam Paser, farms on a small scale, cultivating palm oil and rubber on a portion of a 2-square-mile (5-sq-km) plot.

The land is part of a concession now controlled by billionaire businessman Sukanto Tanoto, after his conglomerate acquired a company owned by businessman Hashim Djojohadikusumo, the younger brother of Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto.

Sukanto controls a 158-square-mile (409-sq-km) plot designated to be the capital city’s main secure zone. Hashim controls a 668-square-mile (1,730-sq-km) swath that includes parts of North Penajam Paser, Kutai Kartanegara and West Kutai regencies.

For Jubein and many of Sepaku’s 36,000 residents, it’s hard to believe that so few people can control a forest four times the size of Jakarta.

Fearing that their egalitarian and community-oriented way of life could be swept aside in the construction of a glittering new city in the middle of the forest, Jubein and his fellow tribespeople have asked the government for financial compensation and new land.

“It is necessary for us to maintain our culture and customs,” Jubein said.

Because he has no legal proof of land ownership, Jubein said he has no leverage against the government and developers. He and his ancestors have been on this land long before they were granted rights to it, and possibly even before the Republic of Indonesia was born in 1945.

Speaking on behalf of the Dayak people living in North Penajam Paser, Jubein said he would prefer to live in his house without any furniture than to be kicked off the land.

“I’m afraid that it will just be arbitrary. We will be evicted just like that, they will tell us to just relocate and cultivate somewhere, but without any clarity on what the conditions will be,” he said.

Mega-city blues

Andrinof Chaniago, the former head of the National Development and Planning Ministry (Bappenas), who is involved in planning the capital relocation, says it is very much needed.

Among reasons he cites to justify moving the capital to Kalimantan – the Indonesian portion of Borneo – is that Jakarta has grown too big.

The city is no longer properly able to provide public services such as public transportation, waste management, river management, and public housing, he said.

“It has become burdensome because the population growth rate in the greater Jakarta area is high, above the national average and is caused by, among other things, urbanization,” Andrinof told BenarNews.

According to a census done by the Central Bureau of Statistics last year, Jakarta’s population is 10.56 million, an increase of about 10 percent from a decade earlier.

Borneo Dreams: Indonesia's Grand Plan to Move its Capital

With its soaring growth, Jakarta lacks green and open spaces. Andrinof noted that in some cases, residents who died had to be buried in Cikarang in West Java, a two hour-drive from central Jakarta, while others were buried on top of deceased relatives in Jakarta.

“This is a characteristic of a city that can no longer accommodate or provide for the needs of its residents,” Andrinof said.

It is imperative that the capital move to reduce the pressure of population growth, urbanization and migration on Jakarta and its surrounding cities, he added.

About 58 percent of Indonesia’s 272 million people live on the island of Java. Most inhabit western Java and are concentrated in the greater Jabodetabek area – Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi.

“I am often reminded that Java accounts for less than 7 percent of Indonesia’s total land area,” Andrinof said.

If the island’s population were to continue growing by at least 1.5 percent annually, Andrinof said, it could reach 300 million by 2060 and could face clean water concerns, drought during the dry season and flooding during the rainy season.

As for the concerns of people like Jubein Jafar, Indonesian law requires the government to uphold indigenous people’s rights, Andrinof said, but he conceded that those laws are not always properly executed. BenarNews/SP