Jokowi taps new Indonesian capital city leaders

JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network): President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo (pic) inaugurated on Thursday (March 10) Bambang Susantono and Dhony Rahajoe as the head and deputy head, respectively, of the new capital city authority as the government stepped up its preparations to relocate the capital to East Kalimantan.

The inauguration came after Jokowi signed into law the 2022 Capital City Law last month, which stipulates that the President had to inaugurate the head and deputy head of the authority body within two months of the law coming into force.

According to the regulation, the head of the authority will have equivalent status to a minister and will lead the preparations for the construction of, and relocation to, Nusantara – the new capital city – as well as the capital’s eventual governance.

Speaking after the inauguration, Bambang said that he aimed to build “a city for all”, emphasising that the authority would not only focus on developing the physical infrastructure in Nusantara, but also the city’s soul.

“We will not only build in terms of physical [infrastructure], but we will also focus on social cohesion and interactions between city dwellers and ensure that the city will become a humane and livable city,” said Bambang in Jakarta on Thursday.

Bambang added that his immediate task in the short term was to coordinate with relevant institutions that had prepared the groundwork for the relocation to Nusantara, such as the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) and the Public Works and Housing Ministry.

Before being appointed as the new head of the capital city authority, Bambang was the vice president for knowledge management and sustainable development at the Asian Development Bank, a position that he had held since 2015.

Bambang was a deputy transportation minister between 2010 and 2014, and had chaired the Indonesian Transportation Society (MTI) – a transportation sector watchdog – between 2004 and 2010. He received his PhD in infrastructure planning from the University of California in the United States in 2000.

Meanwhile, Dhony Rahajoe was the managing director president office of Sinar Mas Land, a private developer best known for building Bumi Serpong Damai (BSD) City in Tangerang, Banten.

Dhony’s appointment came on the back of visits by Jokowi and other officials to the satellite city in December last year, signalling the government’s reported intent to model the development of Nusantara on that of BSD City.

Swift work The President, in a Cabinet meeting after the inauguration, said that Bambang, with his extensive experience in the transportation sector, and Dhony, who has a background in property development, were “a good combo”.

He instructed the newly inaugurated officials, as well as relevant ministers, to swiftly work on ensuring that land for the site of Nusantara had clear legal status.

“We have to ensure that land [ownership] in the new capital area can only be transferred to relevant institutions that need the land to develop the capital,” said Jokowi on Thursday, instructing Agrarian and Spatial Planning Minister Sofyan Djalil to stop issuing new land certificates and stop certifying transfers of land ownership in areas overlapping with Nusantara.

He also instructed Bambang and Dhony to recruit locals in East Kalimantan to ensure that they were involved in the capital-relocation process. Nusantara will be located on 256,000ha of land in an area straddling North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kartanegara regencies.

According to the current plan, the project will cost Rp 466 trillion (US$32.6 billion), 19 per cent of which is expected to be financed from the state budget.

Analysts said Jokowi’s pick of experienced professionals to lead the capital city authority was aimed at ensuring that the newly formed authority would be free from politicisation. National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) political researcher Wasisto Raharjo Jati said it was important for Jokowi to choose the right figure to lead the capital authority, given that the relocation project would be viewed as his presidential legacy.

“Jokowi probably wants to avoid the [capital-relocation project] becoming politicized, hence the appointment of these two people, who do not have political backgrounds, to manage the new capital,” Wasisto said.

While the new figures appear to be free from political interests, antigraft activists have flagged Dhony’s previous position in Sinar Mas Land for potential conflicts of interest. Wawan Suyatmiko of antigraft organisation Transparency International Indonesia (TII) warned of the potential for a conflict of interest in Dhony’s appointment as Sinar Mas Land has a development project near the site of Nusantara.

"The potential conflict of interest is very large," Wawan said.

"The option is to let go one of the positions [Dhony] holds and declare it, to prevent any conflicts of interest in the future," he added.

Dhony said after the inauguration that he would resign from his position in Sinar Mas Land and all related companies to focus on his new duties.