JAKARTA, March 1 (Bernama-Antara): President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) stated that Indonesia is keen on having a new presidential palace built with its own hands rather than being a colonial legacy, reported ANTARA news agency.
"We are keen to have a presidential palace that is not the legacy of the colonial regime. We will develop (the new palace) with our materials and our might, which will awaken our pride in ourselves," the president stated in Nusantara City on Friday.
Jokowi recalled that the foreign leaders whom he had welcomed at the presidential palace in Jakarta often commended the palace's beauty. However, he was unable to elaborate on anything, as the structure is the legacy of the Dutch colonial regime.
"The same case for the Bogor Palace, Yogyakarta's (Gedung Agung Palace), and the Cipanas Palace," he remarked.
Apart from the Tampaksiring Palace in Bali, built in 1957 after Indonesia's independence, all other presidential palaces were constructed during the Dutch colonial period.
Those palaces are the Merdeka Palace and the State Palace in Jakarta, Bogor Palace and Cipanas Palace in West Java, and Gedung Agung Palace in Yogyakarta.
The president emphasised that the new Presidential Palace in Indonesia's new capital, Nusantara City, is developed to awaken the pride of the Indonesian nation about their engineering capability and the established culture.
He also invited visitors to Nusantara City to observe the new city's development from the Presidential Palace, which became the highest vista point in the city.
"How the new capital will evolve and transform in the future and will be visible if you, the visitors, come to the highest point (in the new capital) that is the Presidential Palace," Jokowi emphasised.
However, the president admitted to not knowing whether the presidential palace in Nusantara would be open to the public.
"If permitted, visit and observe the panorama from the palace. I visited there often. I am indeed allowed there, but I am not certain whether other visitors are allowed access or not," he remarked. - Bernama-Antara
