Indonesian president Joko Widodo is set to become one of the greatest presidents of the Islamic world when the capital is moved from Jakarta to Borneo within the next five years. Many may ask why of all places Kalimantan was chosen to be the location. It’s a well-known fact that Borneo, the third largest island in the world, is still one of the most backward regions in Southeast Asia. It has one of the worst communication systems, far behind East Malaysia’s Sabah and Sarawak. President Widodo or better known as Jokowi deliberately chose Borneo because it was less than perfect.
And knowing the nature of Widodo, Balikpapan is the perfect choice in a country that believes in the ideals of “Pancasila”. The majority of Indonesians practice Pancasila’s five principles — belief in God, nationalism, humanitarianism, democracy and social justice. Before becoming president in 2014, Jokowi was elected on his performance as a politician who had the people’s welfare at heart.
While past leaders were elected based on their political breeding, Jokowi was a renowned politician who came from a poor Javanese family. He later introduced programmes to improve quality of life in the city, including healthcare, dredging the city’s main river to reduce flooding, and construction of the city’s subway system. But when overpopulation overtook the city, Jakarta began to sink and there was no choice but to move.
Balikpapan is a blessing — it has a multi-racial populace of nativebased Muslims and Christians, blending in well with migrant Indonesians coming from the various 18,000 islands surrounding Borneo. Kalimantan’s history is that of mixed fortunes. It was subjected to several tragedies, starting with the Japanese invasion.
This was followed by the massacre of Kalimantan’s elite, including members of the “Keraton” royal household. After Indonesia won its independence from the Dutch in 1948, a communist insurgency and racial riots threatened to tear the fabric of Kalimantan’s multi-racial society apart.
The worst culminated in the Dayak-Madura clash in 1997 when hundreds were killed. With Jokowi at the helm, it appears that Kalimantan is ready for the peace enjoyed by their pioneering forefathers. One hundred years ago, the Dutch colonised Kalimantan and found the region rich with mineral resources.
It is now home to oil refineries and a port, making it a major economic entity. Balikpapan, with a small population of 570,000, is now a bustling metropolis and its 2016 GDP stood at Rp73.18 trillion. Jokowi’s choice of Balikpapan was based not only on the economic makeup of the town but also its rich socio-cultural past. Kalimantan was once a country of small kingdoms and sultanates.
Now its population includes Bugis from neighbouring Sulawesi (Celebes), Maluku, Irian Jaya, Java and Sumatra. Balikpapan is also in the “centre” for local as well as international air travel via the new Sepinggan airport. From Balikpapan, one can head south to Banjarmasin in Kalimantan and Surabaya, to Sulawesi, Ambon and Sorong in the east, to Pontianak, Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur in the west and beyond and to Tarakan, Tawau and Kota Kinabalu and the rest of the world in the north.
But, travel within Kalimantan is still restricted to local air service provided by Twin Otters and other small planes via Lion Air, Garuda and Swirijaya Air. Land travel is still a problem because there are poor, if not, no roads into the “highlands” such as Apo Kayan bordering Kapit, across the Muller Range to get to remote Putussibau next to Sarawak’s Lubuk Antu district or adjacent to Ba’Kelalan. Indeed this is a gargantuan task given that Indonesian Kalimantan is five times the size of Malaysia.
With its population made up of many different communities and a healthy mixture of religions as well as one of the world’s biggest and unique eco-systems, Kalimantan is on the threshold of greatness.
Among others things, Jokowi has the 2,500km Trans Kalimantan “highway” on the cards, which will be connected to Sarawak from the Telok Melano border to Sambas, Singkawang, Palangkaraya, Pankalanbun, Banjarmasin, Balikpapan, Samarinda, Tanjung Selor and to Nunukan adjacent to Sabah. When the East Kalimantan border checkpoint at Long Nawang is opened, Kapit will become the fifth border checkpoint after Tebedu, Biawak, Lubuk Antu and Ba’Kelalan to be connected to our neighbours.
