Ahok A Candidate to Helm New Capital City, Presidential Expert Staffer Says

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Presidential expert staffer Ali Mochtar Ngabalin in a working visit to Batam on Monday said there are four candidates the government mulled over to lead the future capital city (IKN) as the head of the state capital authority. One of them is Basuki Tjahaja Purnama or Ahok, who is currently the president commissioner of state energy firm Pertamina. 

President Joko Widodo will officially announce the IKN head authority on Wednesday, January 26. 

“Ahok is one of the names mentioned by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo,” Ngabalin said on January 24. “What is clear is that other candidates are those with experience in architecture and have an outstanding record as regional leaders.”

According to Ngabalin, the nation's new capital is a new policy Indonesia introduced with the aim of building civilization for the next 100-300 years. "We are talking about the next generation of Indonesia, if we’re talking about the IKN. Hopefully, the development will run smoothly," he said.

President Jokowi has for numerous times pushed for the continuation of this ambitious project that was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The name of this new capital city, which will replace Jakarta, has been agreed to be Nusantara. Its legal basis in the form of the IKN Act was swiftly passed in just two months. 

Read: Jakarta Election; PDIP's Internal Discussion Mentions Ahok

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