Presidential candidate number one, Anies Baswedan, seems reluctant to talk about the continuation of the development initiated by Jokowi, despite the idea having emerged since the era of President Soekarno in the 1950s. The development in question is the relocation of the capital city to Nusantara in East Kalimantan.
In fact, the development of IKN has been underway, and even the IKN Authority has been formed, led by a Head and Deputy Head of the IKN Authority, namely Ir. Bambang Susantono, MCP, MSCE, Ph.D. and Deputy Head of the Authority: Ir. Dhony Rahajoe. Secretary: Dr. Achmad Jaka Santos Adiwijaya S.H., LLM.
The organizational structure of the IKN Authority was formed based on the Head of the Nusantara Capital Authority (IKN) Regulation Number 1 of 2022 concerning the Organization and Work Procedures of the IKN Authority. The organizational structure of the IKN Authority consists of the Head and Deputy Head of the IKN Authority, as well as nine Senior Middle Management positions, namely 1 Secretary, 7 Deputies, and 1 Head of the Legal and Compliance Work Unit.
The physical development of IKN itself has progressed very far, up to the stage of building the Presidential Office, complete with the installation of the Garuda blade in the back area of the Presidential Office. The progress of the Presidential Office construction has reached 53 percent. The question is, if Anies decides not to continue it, what will happen to the progress that has been made so far?
How wasteful the budget that has been allocated for the development, including the construction of a special toll access to accommodate transportation needs to and from IKN. Even the DPR has issued Law Number 3 of 2022 concerning the National Capital. And there, the name of the Indonesian capital city called Nusantara is mentioned, given by President Joko Widodo.
So, how to stop the obstacles to the development of IKN in the post-presidential election era? If Anies shows signs like that, that he prioritizes other developments that are considered more important, then the public must stop that threat. This means that Anies cannot be elected so that the development of IKN can proceed as scheduled.
As an illustration of how inconsistent Anies Baswedan is, when the President gathered the Governors to bring their respective land and typical plants to the IKN area, Anies was present in the designated IKN area to hand over the two packages to the President. This means that Anies initially had no intention of thwarting the development of IKN, right?
We know and understand that the narrative that contains resistance to President Jokowi in terms of the development of IKN is solely for his electoral interests. And it is not aimed at realizing Bung Karno’s ideals that are continued by Jokowi, for the sake of economic equality outside Java.
