Indonesian expert highlights the collaboration between new capital and GBA in three domains

The Indonesian Parliament passed a bill into law on Tuesday to officially revoke Jakarta's status as the capital and set it up as a special zone. The move implies that the capital of Indonesia has been formally moved to Nusantara.

Recently, the "Southeast Asia Forum" International Conference, co-organized by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the South China Normal University, was held in Guangzhou.

At the interval of the conference, Semiarto Purwanto, Dean of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Indonesia, told GDToday that investors from GBA could help his country build the new capital in terms of infrastructure and people's livelihood.

According to Prof. Purwanto, the new capital city Nusantara being built in the forest of East Kalimantan is a new city. "Therefore, what we will see in the future is how to build a very environmentally friendly city," he noted.

As for the advice to GBA investors, Mr. Purwanto underscored two imperatives: infrastructure and people's livelihoods in Nusantara.

"We need to build from zero. So the most that we need is how to build construction, housing complexes, toll roads, airports, and also shipyards, for example," he said.

Additionally, the Dean of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Indonesia highlighted the social impact of the government's move. He heeded the demands of indigenous people in the new capital and the newcomers from other places in Indonesia.

"Kalimantan's indigenous people are quite a lot. We should also consider the existence of these indigenous people," Mr. Purwanto noted.

He introduced the area, known as productive for years, which provides timber as well as a mining industry. Local people work in the forest sector, agriculture, and also palm tree plantations to make a living.

As a promising project, the building of Nusantara attracts people from other places in Indonesia as well. Mr. Purwanto pointed out that the advantages for blue-collar workers may be neglected and proposed more skilled talents to work in this new capital city.

Mr. Purwanto noted that economic collaboration is still one of the most important domains and said that IT-relevant investments are in dire need currently.

Also, he underlined educational exchanges between China and Indonesia. According to him, Indonesia should follow China's success in fostering education as the social prime mover.

"The education system in China, I see, is now growing and has proven to be one of the best in the world," he said.

He further detailed that the country needs to learn a lot from these education policies in China, from primary education, tertiary education, until university education.

Notably, he finds that there is a growing interest in the Chinese language in his country. "Through this exchange in education, for example, we can promote relations between the young generation of China and Indonesia," he added.