Cak Imin Vows to Build 40 Cities on Par with Jakarta If Elected

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Vice presidential candidate number 2 Muhaimin Iskandar, better known as Cak Imin, pledged to build 40 cities that are on par with the current capital city of Jakarta if elected during last night’s election debate on the economy. 

The statement left candidate number 3 Mahfud Md surprised. “Cak Imin, I am a bit surprised that you want to build 40 cities on the same level as Jakarta. Are you sure it can be executed within five years of serving as the president and the vice president?” Mahfud expressed doubts. 

He mentioned that the new capital of Nusantara or IKN would take decades to come to fruition, not to mention that the investment in the project was still just a promise and has not yet been realized. “I think it’s an unreasonable plan to build 40 cities like the metropolitan city of Jakarta.”

The Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs thus questioned the financial plan for the project.

Vice presidential candidate number 2 Gibran Rakabuming Raka was also taken aback by candidate number 1's remarks. He said that the latter's stance was somehow strange. “You want to build 40 cities like Jakarta, but you are against the IKN project,” said the Solo Mayor.

In his defense, Cak Imin said that building 40 cities that are on par with Jakarta is possible with a few stimuli. He mentioned Pontianak City in Kalimantan which only received Rp1 trillion in funding per year.

“What if we increase the funding to Rp3-5 trillion per year? We have enough state budget, and we can involve the private sector and CSR (corporate social responsibility),” Cak Imin said.

Friday’s debate featured only vice presidential candidates Muhaimin Iskandar who is Anies Baswedan's running mate; Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Prabowo Subianto's running mate; and Mahfud Md, Ganjar Pranowo's running mate. This followed the first debate between the presidential candidates earlier this month. The General Elections Commission (KPU) scheduled the upcoming election debate for January 7, 2024.

DEFARA DHANYA PARAMITHA