Academics Suggest New Capital City Has Provincial Status

TheIndonesia.id - Chairman of the Center for Constitutional Law Studies, Faculty of Law, University of Indonesia (FHUI) Moh. Novrizal, LL. M. suggested that the State Capital (IKN) remains with the status of a province and a head of government with the status of a governor.

"In addition, there needs to be a separation between the IKN transfer law and the Governance Law, because the Governance Law will often change along with the times and technological advances," Novrizal said in a written statement received by Antara in Depok, Friday, February 4, 2022.

Novrizal explained that Article 18 of the 1945 Constitution states that the Republic of Indonesia consists of provinces, regencies, cities, and has a regional people's representative council. Especially in the capital city Nusantara, there are differences because the form of government has the same status as a province, but the head of government is at the ministerial level.

He questioned the flow of coordination of regional governments because in general, the provincial government coordinates under the Ministry of Home Affairs. Novrizal gave the example of the Special Region of Yogyakarta as an area with provincial status with the regional head being called a governor even though it is a special area led by a sultan.

Meanwhile, Lecturer of State Administrative Law University of Indonesia Dr. Dian P Simatupang said that in the IKN transfer project, a detailed budget calculation must be carried out so that no miscalculation causes budget swelling and will not become a problem in the next government.

"In addition to funding resources, the transfer of IKN also requires capable human resources," said in the webinar "Discussing the Constitutionality of the State Capital Law".

He suggested that funding resources be divided into three stages, namely preparation, development, and transfer so that the state budget is more efficient. For example, by utilizing the proceeds from the lease of government buildings that do not have strategic and historical value in Jakarta, grants, and cooperation in providing infrastructure.

"Ideally, in relocating the capital city, APBN funds are only used at the preparation stage so that the APBN fiscal space remains safe for the public and government interests," he said.

This is done so as not to reduce the APBN allocation in accordance with constitutional obligations, such as education (20 percent), health (5 percent), mandatory subsidies for Social Health Insurance Administration Body contributions, and regional transfer funds, because they are contrary to Law no. 17 of 2003 Article 34 Paragraph 1 as a form of policy deviation that can be criminalized.

The Director of Local Government Synchronization, Ministry of Home Affairs, Iwan Kurniawan, explained the urgency of moving the state capital (IKN) due to several factors, including the concentration of population density on the island of Java which reached 57 percent, lack of availability of clean water in the Greater Jakarta area, massive land conversion in Java, as well as various problems that arise due to population density.

"Currently, we have carried out various coordination and collaboration with the regions involved, especially in the preparation of IKN regulations. We encourage follow-up and provide support for IKN policies through synchronization of development, synchronization of regional policies, and national policy facilities," said Kurniawan .