Indonesia names new capital, approving shift from Jakarta

[brooklynite]

Source: CNN

(CNN) — Indonesia has named its new capital Nusantara, as lawmakers approve the shift from Jakarta to Kalimantan -- a jungle-covered area on the east of Borneo island.

The new name translates to "archipelago" in the Indonesian language.

Concerns over the sustainability of the congested and rapidly sinking political center of Jakarta prompted the need for a new capital, and the nation's House of Representatives officially passed a bill on Tuesday regarding the relocation.

"The relocation of the capital city to Kalimantan is based on several considerations, regional advantages, and welfare. With the vision of the birth of a new economic center of gravity in the middle of the archipelago," said Suharso Monoarfa, the country's Minister of National Development Planning, according to Indonesia Parliament TV.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/indonesia-nusantara-new-capital-intl-scli/index.html

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Politics and climate change

[electric_blue68]

1. Wow. I'd read about Jakarta sinking a couple of years ago. Good Luck Kalimantan!

[msongs]

2. looks suspiciously like a massive financial upheaval to do this nt

[Igel]

3. Don't count out ethnicity.

Borneo is in the borders, but as far as ethnicity is concerned ... Not so Indonesian. Putting the capital there places a large power-center in less assimilated territory.

[JI7]

4. I never realized how huge Indonesia

until I saw comparisons with other nations by laying the image over the US and other places