REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PALANGKARAYA - Vice Chairman of the Peoples Consultative Assembly (MPR), Ahmad Farhan Hamid, has said that Jakarta should no longer be the center of government because of its many complex problems. 

"Jakarta is not suitable anymore to be the center of government since it is too crowded and has a lot of problems. Therefore, we have to consider the possibility of moving the seat of government to another city," Hamid said during the MPR Press Gathering with reporters here on Saturday.

Sharing his opinion, Hamid said one area in Indonesia suitable for a new government center was Kalimantan, especially Palangkaraya city.

"It is because Palangkaraya is geographically located in the middle of Indonesia, so it has easy access to various parts of the country. Besides, Palangkaraya is a region with flatter land, abundant water availability, and has no volcanoes, so it is not prone to disaster," he explained.

He mentioned several reasons to immediately move the government out of Jakarta, among others being traffic congestion and hygiene problems. "WHO has stated that Jakarta is the dirtiest city in the world. Besides, 40 percent of the city`s land is located below sea level, so that Jakarta is prone to flooding," he pointed out. 

Hamid added that the population exceeds the city's capacity and the infrastructure facilities for the city, which was another reason Jakarta was not worthy of being the center of government.

"Moreover, unintegrated infrastructure and poor space planning have turned Jakarta into a very energy wasteful city. Such a city certainly cannot be a center of government," he stated.

He also proposed to build a new government center without allocating the cost into the state budget. "We can only use the state budget for infrastructure construction. Then, the land in Palangkaraya will be divided as follows: 20 percent for infrastructure, 30 percent for green open spaces, and the remaining 50 percent for offices, residential, and other commercial areas," he explained.

Meanwhile, the Governor of Central Kalimantan, Ahmad Diran, stated that the local government is ready to provide land if the central government decides to move the seat of government to Palangkaraya. 

"We are ready to provide vast lands here, as long as it is not land from the protected forest," he said. He also said the idea of moving the seat of government had been earlier proposed by President Sukarno in 1957.

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