Politics and Comfort in Moving Capital City

Politics and Comfort in Moving Capital

By: GPB Suka Arjawa

The movement of the national capital, which has been confirmed by President Joko Widodo, provoked various comments. This is a natural thing in the social realm. Each individual or group has a different social experience. However, in the case of moving the national capital, it does require a variety of views and studies because it involves many aspects. Moving the capital of Jakarta, too. Many people know how the condition of the Indonesian capital is now. Traced through poetry, songs, films or any form of art, it has always been seen how the condition of Jakarta has been for many years and decades ago. Jakarta is said to be flooded, it is said that it is sorry to come to Jakarta, even though Koes Plus always says "Back to Jakarta".

In a reading, even the Dutch colonialists who built the city of Batavia, were actually only created for a capacity of 800,000 (eight hundred thousand people). It can be imagined, how about Jakarta which now has a population of tens of millions of people.

Many perspectives can be used to see the movement of the capital. From the perspective of political sociology, the move of the capital to East Kalimantan gave a message to the community that Indonesia (development) was not only Java. Kalimantan will give an answer that the national development process will be evenly distributed. In the age of technology and knowledge that is so advanced as now, placing the capital on the island, is not a problem. Because, the concept popularized by the government now is that East Kalimantan is "devoted" to the capital city of government only. And the "capital" of business and the economy remains in Jakarta. That way, Jakarta will remain active. Business cities and economic cities might also be suitable for the development of the city of art. Art will provide a balance to high economic activity which often creates constancy. However, it is clear that Jakarta will decrease in population because of the move of various operators to East Kalimantan.

The relocation of the nation's capital will also give understanding to the community, that Indonesia is truly one in the diversity of the islands. Indeed before, Java became various centers of social political and economic activity. Logically, it might be traced to the past about Indonesia's natural wealth. In the past, human wealth (social) was sourced from nature, namely agriculture and plantations. Plantation is also in a context that is empowered by humans. This means that the plantations in the scale can be processed by humans with human labor.

Jawea is the most buried island in Indonesia because it has a lot of volcanoes. The volcanic eruption which has taken place centuries ago, produces volcanic ash which is so useful for processing agriculture. No other island has such a volcano except Java. So, socially this fertility has an impact on people's lives. Those who have the skills to cultivate nature (land) will surely prosper and prosper. And the effect of this is calm which is certainly correlated with intelligence. Obviously, intelligence can only be used for positive things. It really depends on the nature of the human carrier that can also plunge. Fertility and welfare will bring a desire to add family members (children). It is very possible that here the emergence of understanding of many children is a lot of luck. Thus, it is logical that Java has the largest population in the archipelago.

However, now welfare and intelligence have escaped their dependence on nature. Welfare is very dependent on the ability of one's brain, ability to process information, and self-management of the parties concerned. So, who is able to combine the things mentioned above, will provide welfare not only to himself but also to the community. The real context, this looks to those who master information technology. Startups around the world are truly able to realize their wealth just by working in a laptop depab and not using a large room but instead are able to occupy a very wide area. By working in one chair in a restaurant, while holding a laptop or even a smartphone, they can reach the world. This is prosperity today.

Thus, if brought to the context of the displacement of the capital city of Indonesia, then the capital needs no longer in a fertile land, in an area that has a large population but could be in areas where the land is peat but can be made of buildings that allow people to concentrate to do managerial state system. As long as it is able to maintain calm, then anywhere can be built the country's capital. Kalimantan is a relatively safe island from natural disasters in Indonesia. The island is also full of forests and not many inhabitants.

The island is also full of forests and not many inhabitants. Although the land is peaty, security and comfort are apparent on the island. So, there is no need to hesitate anymore to move the capital of Indonesia to the East Kalimantan region.

Another thing that must be seen is that the movement of the capital of a country is an important event that must be understood by the wider community. The movement of the Indonesian capital to East Kalimantan was confirmed by President Joko Widodo almost a month ago. However, this must be considered carefully when viewed in terms of paternalistic Indonesian culture. Often the boss's policy will be emulated by subordinates so that the behavior of subordinates goes along with what is done by their superiors. In the context of Indonesia, the nation's capital is the boss and subordinates are the capital of the province, regency and also the sub-district.

With technology, provincial capitals and others go down, there is no need to copy the state capital movement. Especially the city district. What matters is the efficiency of performance by using technology. So, work that does not require paper, is enough with a computer and if the correspondence can be done through the WA delivery system for example, then traffic will not be produced. Likewise with food and meeting needs. ****

Author, lecturer at the Sociology,  Faculty of Social and Political Science,  Udayana University.