As Indonesia names its new US$34 billion capital 'Nusantara', historically minded critics say it's 'hard to see the idea'

The construction of Indonesia's US$34 billion new capital is moving ahead, with lawmakers on Tuesday passing into law the bill governing the administrative centre, which will be named Nusantara.

The name Nusantara (literally, "archipelago") was chosen by President Joko Widodo to underline the country's motto of "unity in diversity".

Minister of National Development Planning Suharso Monoarfa told parliament on Monday that the president wanted the new capital to showcase the diversity Indonesia - the world's largest archipelago - had to offer.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

"So Nusantara is a unity concept that accommodates all of our diversity, whether in race, language, or ethnicity, and the new Indonesian capital, under that name, will reveal that reality," he said.

Suharso said Widodo had to choose from "around 80" names proposed by historians and language experts. These ranged from newly created names - such as Negara Jaya, Nusantara Jaya, Pertiwipura and Cakrawalapura - to historical ones, such as Kertanegara, the name of the most powerful ruler of the Singhasari Kingdom of Java.

But none of those names offer the familiarity that "Nusantara" does.

Most Indonesians learn this word in school during history lessons and it is used widely to refer to modern day Indonesia.

It dates back at least as far as Gajah Mada, prime minister of the Majapahit empire during the 14th century. He made an oath, called Sumpah Palapa, in which he vowed to eat no food containing spices until he had conquered all of "Nusantara".

The Majapahit empire, based on what is now known as Java island, ruled from 1293 to 1527, and in its heyday its conquests stretched throughout Southeast Asia, from present-day Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, southern Thailand and Timor Leste to the southwestern Philippines. Majapahit also claimed to have relationships with Cambodia, southern Burma and Vietnam.

Given the extent of the territory once referred to as "Nusantara" the naming of Indonesia's new capital has prompted some confusion and bewilderment.

"So Indonesia's future capital is going to be called 'Nusantara', the same name as the historical region encompassing much of maritime Southeast Asia. In a country whose residents are so gifted with creativity, the only people without it are government bureaucrats," said Twitter user James Louie.

Another user, Medieval Indonesia, which tweets about history and culture in the Indo-Malaysian archipelago before the 16th century, said: "It'd be a [tiny] improvement if they called it 'Nusantarapura' and translated it for foreigners as 'Archipelago City' or something. As it is, it would just ruin the modern meaning of one word and make it harder for people to understand its older meanings. Hard to see the idea."

There were also objections from people in Malaysia.

Twitter user Azizul Arkaan said: "The Nusantara region back then [13th- 14th century] was very vast, which included modern-day Brunei, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Hope the new capital's name won't cause a historical inaccuracy."

Trubus Rahadiansyah, a public policy analyst from Trisakti University, wondered if the Nusantara name and its location on the island of Borneo - which Indonesia shares with Malaysia and Brunei - could lead to an assumption that Indonesia planned to "unify the Malay region" under its leadership in 2045, when Southeast Asia's biggest economy celebrates its 100th anniversary of independence.

This isn't the first time Indonesia's new capital has sparked controversy. When Widodo announced in August 2019 that the administrative capital would be moved to East Kalimantan - because Jakarta was sinking, heavily congested, flooded and polluted - the public raced to suggest names to the government. These included bizarre suggestions such as Jokopolis or Jokowikarta.

In April last year, the initial design for the state palace in the new capital was revealed to the public. Based on a giant mythological Garuda bird, that too was met with criticism by some who saw it as a "weird" choice of facade.

The final design, which has been approved by Widodo, was revealed by its sculptor Nyoman Nuarta this month. The design still features a palace shielded by a massive bird's wingspan, though it is less obvious than in the initial design.

But the controversy did not stop lawmakers from passing the new capital bill into law on Tuesday, having spent all of Monday deliberating.

The bill, a copy of which was seen by This Week in Asia, stipulates that Nusantara, which will occupy 56,180 hectares, will have a special administrative status that will allow the president to appoint its head, with approval from the parliament. It envisioned Nusantara as a "world-class" sustainable city and symbol of national identity that could drive the Indonesian economy.

Most of the funding for construction - 53 per cent - will come from the state budget, up from the government's initial target of 19 per cent. The government will also seek funding from businesses, the private sector, and state-owned enterprises.

Of the nine factions in parliament, only the Islamist Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) declined to deliberate on the new bill. It did so on the grounds the government had "no legitimate reasons" to build a new capital in East Kalimantan, according to Suryadi Jaya Purnama, a member of the PKS in the House of Representatives.

"We are concerned that if we move the capital from Jakarta to East Kalimantan, we will lose that value of struggle that was historically tied to Jakarta," Suryadi told This Week in Asia on Tuesday.

The party also viewed the deliberation of the bill as rushed, arguing there was no urgency to move the capital during a time of hardship caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Said Suryadi: "This is not the right time for it, we are still facing a pandemic, inflation, the government has debt of [US$418.4 billion], but we are thinking of building a new palace in a new place. The government has no empathy for the people's condition and situations right now."

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

Copyright (c) 2022. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.