KUCHING: Much has been said about the benefits that would be gained if and when Indonesia relocates its capital city to some place in Kalimantan.
At least one million Javanese and Indonesians of other ethnicities — mainly civil servants and support workers including various players in the private sector — would move to the new capital.
Political analyst Datuk Peter Minos said when the unprecedented move takes place, these ‘outsiders’ (primarily the Javanese) or ‘domestic migrants’ must be careful and wary of the fact that they are in a ‘foreign’ territory. So they must handle and treat the locals with genuine fairness and understanding because racial conflicts had happened in Kalimantan in recent history.
He said things could get sour as what happened when locals violently rejected the immigrant Madurese some years back.
“Land of the locals must be well compensated, their customs and traditions must be respected, locals must be given opportunities in all areas and development and they must not be bullied or suppressed or taken advantage of in any way,” said Minos.
He said the nearby forests and environment must be properly treated and handled.
“Again for us in Sarawak and Sabah as well as Brunei, we hope the Javanese’s past thoughts and tendency towards territorial expansion are now dead and gone.
“We have not forgotten about what happened in the past to Acheh, Papua (now Irian Jaya), East Timor (now free and independent) and many others like the Moluccas (now Maluku) and Celebes (now Sulawesi) and our own bad experience of confrontation with Indonesia,” Minos recalled.
He said president Jokowi is all right but future top leaders might have different ideas on territories next door or nearby.
“But let us not think too far ahead or be too theoretical about it. Let the Indonesians develop their new capital. We give full support where and when we can,” he said.
Looking at all aspects, Minos said Jokowi had made a very good proposal because Jakarta is said to be literally sinking by a few inches per year, too crowded and in parts, too dirty and not easy to clean up, prone to flooding year after year and too expensive to improve.
Worst of all, he said Jakarta and the whole of Java were in the so-called “ring of fire” of volcanoes, earthquakes and other unwanted natural disasters.
Thus, he said it was wise of Jokowi to think and plan ahead with regards to the new capital city.
“Such a city, no matter where in Kalimantan, would require new city planning with everything else new and better,” he said.
“New roads, bridges, railways, airports, ports, hospitals, schools, colleges, universities, offices, houses, malls and so on, with billions of dollars (trillions of rupiahs) to be spent.
“Imagine the need for housing and facilities. All will be truly massive, truly gigantic in scale.”
Minos said it was still too early to tell the effects on Sarawak, Sabah and even Brunei, but conceded that at least on the surface, the new capital would make the world know more about Borneo.
“In there, there will be tourism potential and business opportunities and indirectly Sarawak will benefit,” he said.
For certain, he added, Kalimantan will become more developed economically given that it has vast natural
resources.
He said resourceful and creative Indonesians from other parts of Indonesia will bring in their talents and expertise to the “new Jakarta”.
