TTHE LEGACY President Joko Widodo’s (or Jokowi’s) plan was to pursue corruption-free policies and an infrastructure revolution in Indonesia. On the surface, he has partially succeeded in the latter. During his ten years in office, Jokowi’s government has overseen some 200 major projects. The grandest of these was officially opened on August 17, when Nusantara, an entirely new capital city carved out of the jungles of Borneo, hosted celebrations to mark Indonesia’s 79th Independence Day. The ceremony raised two uncomfortable questions. The first is whether Nusantara is an infrastructure project that has gone too far: a gigantic prestige project doomed to failure. The other is whether Jokowi will really retire from politics when his term ends in October and he is due to hand over power to Prabowo Subianto.
Jokowi sees the capital’s move as an important part of his legacy. When completed in 2045, Nusantara will mark Indonesia’s transformation into an industrial country, according to optimistic announcements by the new capital’s planning authority. The city will house government offices and industrial clusters in sectors such as education and chemicals. It will run entirely on renewable energy. That’s at least what the visionaries say.
It is perhaps inevitable that Jokowi’s project will not go according to plan. The president had to postpone his move into the new palace in the last weeks of his official term because of problems with electricity and running water. Problems with land acquisition, financing and administration have marred construction. The private sector is expected to cover 80 percent of the new city’s $35 billion construction costs, but no substantial contracts have been signed so far. And despite all the touted future environmental benefits (the city was built on already cleared land), critics complain that its growth will accelerate deforestation and environmental degradation.
Jakarta, the current capital, is under serious threat. According to an index by consulting firm Maplecroft, no major city in the world is more exposed to climate-related threats. Groundwater extraction combined with rising sea levels is causing Jakarta to sink: parts could be submerged by 2050. But disaster in Jakarta does not mean triumph in Nusantara. The distance between the two places is about 1,287 km. The government hopes that its industrial development plans will create enough jobs to attract two million people to Nusantara by 2045 and shift the country’s center of gravity. For now, even civil servants are reluctant to leave the post, despite being offered perks such as early promotions and free accommodation.
One obvious question is whether Indonesia’s next president will abandon the plan. The more pressing question is whether he will have the power to do so. In October, Jokowi will hand over the presidency to Mr. Prabowo, a loquacious former general accused of war crimes whose family owns a sprawling business empire. Mr. Prabowo is hardly a poster boy for a new era of Indonesian democracy. But looking beyond his checkered resume, it is also possible there will be no clean transition of power from Jokowi. Jokowi’s son will rule as vice president. On Aug. 12, Airlangga Hartarto resigned as chairman of Golkar, the country’s oldest political party. At a news conference, he suggested he had been forced to resign. Rumors have suggested that Jokowi will be named Golkar’s chief patron at an emergency meeting of the party’s leadership on Aug. 21.
In parallel, Parliament is considering the creation of a Supreme Advisory Board, which some suspect will be a new post for Jokowi to continue to influence Mr Prabowo’s government. On August 19, Jokowi reshuffled his cabinet and appointed two of his allies, Rosan Roeslani and Bahlil Lahadalia, to key economic ministries (energy and investment). They will be able to exert considerable influence and protection over key decisions such as mining concessions. All this suggests that Jokowi is doubling down on his efforts to stay in power. Mr Prabawo has promised to “continue and, if possible, complete” the construction of Nusantara during his term. Jokowi’s promise seems to be to continue to exert some influence over Indonesian politics if possible. ■
