Independence Day at New Capital: Govt Car Rental Move for VVIP Guests Under Scrutiny

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Political researcher at The Indonesian Institute (TII) Center For Public Policy Research, Felia Primaresti, highlighted the government's move to rent 1,000 cars for VVIP guests during the Indonesian Independence Day celebration at Nusantara Capital City or IKN. She questioned the urgency of the car rental. 

"There are several points to bring up. First, is renting 1,000 cars really necessary?” she said on Tuesday, August 6, 2024.

A thousand cars, Felia said, would likely disrupt the traffic and cause pollution. A better option, she went on, would be using buses or fitting two to three officials inside one car. 

Second, Felia questioned whether the procurement of these cars was transparent and accountable. She also brought up President Joko Widodo or Jokowi's previous statement on IKN. 

"President Jokowi himself said that IKN was not ready and the government would not rush to celebrate the Indonesian Independence Day there," she said.

Felia said forcing the celebration of Indonesian Independence Day in IKN while the infrastructure is incomplete would only result in a waste of budget and environmental pollution. If celebrating in IKN was truly necessary, the government must ensure an efficient use of the budget.

Previously, the Ministry of State Secretariat rented around 1,000 cars to facilitate VVIP and state guests in the new capital city.

"We and the ministry signed a memorandum of understanding for the procurement of a thousand cars for the Independence Day celebration," said the Head of the Regional Leadership Council (DPD) of the Indonesian Regional Car Rental Entrepreneurs Association (Asperda) of East Kalimantan Damun Kiswanto in Balikpapan City, East Kalimantan on Sunday, August 4, 2024.

The rent has been paid in half, and the East Kalimantan Asperda had to bring in additional car units from outside the region. "The car units from Surabaya, Jakarta, Sidoarjo, Semarang, Solo, Makassar, Bali, and Palu, are on the way to East Kalimantan," he explained, adding that each car is charged Rp13 million in shipping cost.

"With the limited number of rental car units in East Kalimantan along with increasing demand, car rental prices in the province have soared by 100 percent," he said.

Car rental prices surged in August 2024 with some doubling or tripling the price. For example, the normal rental cost for a Fortuner car was Rp2.5 million per day, which has doubled to Rp5 million per day. 

"Even Alphard which was usually Rp7 million per day has increased quite significantly to Rp25 million per day," said Damun Kiswanto.

ANTARA

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