Jakarta-based diplomats question capital move

Going places: Jokowi and Asean secretary-general Lim Jock Hoi shaking hands at the inauguration of the new Asean Secretariat building in Jakarta earlier this month. — The Jakarta Post/ANN

Jakarta: “Do you expect us all to move with you?” That might have been the question resonating in the minds of many Jakarta-based diplomats when the government first hinted that it was planning to relocate the administrative capital to somewhere on the island of Kalimantan.

Then on the eve of this year’s Independence Day celebrations, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo made a formal plea to lawmakers for their support to move the executive, legislative and judicial institutions away from Jakarta.