Anies Baswedan to Review IKN Law If Elected President
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29 November 2023 22:57 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Presidential candidate Anies Baswedan declared that if he is elected as the next president to succeed Joko Jokowi Widodo, he is keen to review the regulations that dictate the new capital city or IKN Nusantara in East Kalimantan.
The statement was made during a discussion dubbed 'Desak Anies' in Bandung City, West Java, today, Nov. 29.
“According to the law, the current capital city is still Jakarta. And according to the law, it will later move to Nusantara. Is this true? I'll check it later. If I am elected, I will review it all,” Anies said as quoted from his written statement.
The former Jakarta governor highlighted the enormous budget for IKN, in which he argued that the funds amounting to Rp460 trillion could be put to use in other sectors, such as health and people's welfare.
He suggested that the funds could be used to build community health centers and improve the welfare of millions of teachers who are under contract-based government employees (PPPK), police, and soldiers.
“It (the funds) will be much more beneficial," he said.
Anies also said that the important priority is such a challenge as how the government allocates such a large budget to one project when there are other places that need it more. “Other places that really need it don’t receive it [the budget],” he said.
Earlier reported, President Jokowi defended the IKN project in response to Anies Baswedan's criticism, stressing that the new capital city project was aimed at addressing economic inequality and promoting Indonesia-centric development.
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