Etymology

The word nusantara is derived from an Old Javanese compound of nūsa (lit. ’islands’) + antara (lit. ’outer’), which can be roughly translated as ‘the outer islands’ (from Java island’s perspective). This term is taken from Gajah Mada’s oath and may be interpreted as a translation of Dvīpāntara, an older Sanskrit term coined by Kertanegara, which carries roughly the same meaning.

Nusantara was chosen as the official name for the new capital city of Indonesia to embody the national geopolitical vision known as Wawasan Nusantara (lit. ’Nusantara Vision’; or ‘Vision of the Indonesian archipelago’). It also reflects the country’s status as an archipelagic state. According to local Kutai oral tradition recorded in the historical manuscript Salasilah Kutai (lit. ’The genealogy of the Kutai kingdom’), the area was referred to as Nusentara (lit. ’land that is divided’) before it was named Kutai in the 13th century.

History

In April 2017, the Joko Widodo (Jokowi) administration reawakened a dormant motion to move the country’s capital from Jakarta, making a commitment to completely assess prospective alternative sites for Indonesia’s new capital by the end of that year.

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, an idea that had been intermittently floated since the Sukarno administration, which had considered Palangka Raya in Central Kalimantan. Shortly after the plan was announced, Jokowi visited two alternative locations in Kalimantan, Bukit Soeharto in East Kalimantan, and the Triangle Area near Palangka Raya. In April 2019, a 10-year plan to transfer all government offices to a new capital city was announced.

The National Development Planning Ministry recommended the three provinces of South, Central, and East Kalimantan which Jokowi visited, given that each met the requirements for a new capital—including being relatively free from earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes, as well as allowing for a maritime port.

On 23 August 2019, Jokowi formally ratified the plan, as part of a strategy to reduce developmental inequality between Java and other islands in the Indonesian archipelago and to reduce Jakarta’s burden as Indonesia’s primary hub.

The National Development Planning Ministry estimated the relocation cost to be Rp 466 trillion (US$32.7 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.

At the same time, US$40 billion will be allocated to saving Jakarta from sinking in the next decade, which has also been widely reported as the fundamental underlying cause for the relocation of the capital.

In early September 2021, the bill for capital relocation was completed. On 29 September 2021, the Jokowi administration submitted an omnibus bill for the capital relocation to the House of Representatives (the lower house of Indonesian legislature). Amongst many items prescribed in the bill, it contained the plan for the formation of a Capital City Authority (Otorita Ibu Kota Negara), a special agency responsible for the new capital and answering to the President. The new agency was granted ministry-like qualities in that the office holder would be appointed by the President, but with special governing capabilities akin to a provincial governor. It will also regulate how the Capital Authority will manage its funding, taxation, retribution, and assets.

Due to the plan being submitted in the middle of Jokowi’s second term as president, the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) put forward suggestion for a constitutional amendment to re-establish MPR’s ability to enact Principals of State Policies (Pokok–Pokok Haluan Negara, PPHN), similar to the New Order’s MPR’s State Policies Outline (Garis Besar Haluan Negara, GBHN).

This was to provide security and sustainability to the project and ensure its continuation after Jokowi was no longer in the presidency. Based on the results of the KedaiKOPI Survey Institute survey in August 2019, 95.7% of respondents from Jakarta expressed their rejection of the plan to move the capital city to East Kalimantan. On 17 January 2022, during a Special Committee Meeting, Minister of National Development Planning Suharso Monoarfa said the new nation’s capital would be named Nusantara.

It was hoped that development of Nusantara would learn lessons from a similar relocation, when Brazil relocated its capital from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia in 1960.

On 3 June, 2024 it was announced that Bambang Susantono, head of the Nusantara Capital City Authority, along with his deputy, Dhony Rahajoe, had resigned. Yusuf Wibisono, Director of the Institute for Demographic and Poverty Studies (Ideas) speculated that this might have been sparked by president-elect Prabowo being less enthusiastic about the project than Jokowi was, citing Prabowo’s recent statements in which he said the project would still continue, but would no longer be a priority.