Tugu Yogyakarta. Photo: yogyakarta.panduanwisata.id
The idea of replacing Jakarta as Indonesia’s capital city has existed ever since the days of our first President Soekarno. More recently, former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also entertained the idea of separating Indonesia’s economic and political hubs.
Though there hasn’t been any concrete plans to change our capital, Jakartans were recently asked in a survey about what city they’d like to take the capital title instead of Jakarta.
The survey, which was conducted by Indonesian Public Opinion Gauge and Discussion Group (Kedai Kopi), showed that 28.4% of Jakartans chose Yogyakarta to be the country’s capital. Yogya was followed by Palangkaraya with 21.6%, Bogor with 20.8%, and Bukittinggi with 15.6%.
“A few countries can be seen as examples, like Brazil when they moved their capital city from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia, and Malaysia when they based government operations in Putrajaya,” said Kedai Kopi spokesman Hendri Satrio, as quoted by Tempo yesterday.
Environmental and population density problems in Jakarta could potentially play a role in changing Indonesia’s capital city in the future.
