Mon 17 January 2022:
According to a senior government official, Indonesian President Joko Widodo has picked the name Nusantara, which means “archipelago” in English, for the new national capital to be erected on the country’s Kalimantan island.
“I just received a direct confirmation from the president on Friday and he said the new capital is named Nusantara,” the country’s National Development Planning Minister Suharso Monoarfa said during a meeting with the special committee for the new capital city’s establishment at the House of Representatives in Central Jakarta.
The minister added that the name Nusantara was chosen since it has been well-known for a long period.
“It is iconic internationally, easy and it describes the archipelago of the Republic of Indonesia,” Monoarfa said, adding, “And I think we all agree with the name Nusantara.”
In Indonesian, Nusantara means archipelago. Some members of the meeting expressed their concern that the name may be confusing, as this word is used to describe the country and suggested designating the new capital as special administration Nusantara to avoid confusion.
The government originally announced the idea to move the capital from Java, the country’s most populous island, in April 2019.
Months later, Widodo declared that the new capital city would be built in two districts in East Kalimantan province: North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kertanegara.
East Kalimantan has a population of around 3.7 million people and covers an area of about 127,000 square kilometers.
The government had planned to begin ground on the multibillion-dollar development project in August 2020, but the COVID-19 outbreak caused the administration to postpone it.
The new capital will serve as the center of government, but Jakarta, Indonesia’s largest economy and home to more than 10 million people, will continue to be the country’s business and economic hub.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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