The 79th Anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Indonesia (RI) was held differently from previous years. For the first time, a series of Red and White Flag Raising and Lowering Ceremonies took place in the State Capital of the Archipelago, East Kalimantan.
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) led the ceremony directly. This was Jokowi’s last ceremony as the number one person in Indonesia, before handing over power to Prabowo Subianto’s administration.
Meanwhile, Vice President Ma’ruf Amin led the ceremony held at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta. The 79th anniversary ceremony was held in two places simultaneously.
The excitement of the first ceremony at IKN was also highlighted by foreign media. Reuters wrote an article entitled ‘Indonesia Holds Curtailed Independence Day Event in Troubled New Capital’.
In its report, Reuters said the ceremony in IKN was small-scale, because the new city was still under construction. In addition, Reuters also bluntly called the construction of IKN “plagued by problems of delays”.
Reuters said the IKN project experienced construction delays and funding shortages due to the Covid-19 pandemic which caused foreign investment to drag.
The resignation of the IKN project leaders was also discussed in the report. For information, Bambang Susantono and Dhony Raharjoe stated that they resigned from the position of Head and Deputy of the IKN Authority a while ago.
“Indonesia’s 79th anniversary ceremony of the Japanese occupation that ended in 1945 was attended by 1,300 guests, reduced from the original plan of 8,000 guests,” Reuters said, quoted on Saturday (17/8/2024).
Quoting Jokowi’s statement, Reuters reported that IKN experienced limited lodging capacity and food supplies to hold a full-scale 79th Independence Day Ceremony.
Apart from VIP guests from various state officials, the ceremony at IKN was also attended by local people and construction workers.
Mulyana, a 38-year-old construction worker at IKN, said he spent the last nine months building the ministry’s office building that was partially used on Saturday for the celebration amid limited infrastructure to move materials.
“For five months we worked in 24-hour shifts, due to limited access. It took us two to three hours (every day) to move concrete using heavy equipment,” Mulyana told Reuters.
IKN is being built in a forested area on the eastern side of the island of Borneo, about 1,200 km (745 miles) from the current capital, Jakarta, on the island of Java.
Jokowi has been trying to boost confidence in the Rp 42.5 trillion mega-project in recent months, according to a Reuters report.
Among other things, the government broke ground on hotels and office buildings, and held the first cabinet meeting at the new eagle-shaped state palace.
However, Jokowi also said the plan to relocate thousands of civil servants to IKN could be delayed, depending on the readiness of the capital city. Previously, the state apparatus was directed to be ready to move to IKN starting September 2024.
