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🇮🇩 Indonesia /Elections & Politics

IKN Is Not Being Halted, It Is Simply Slowing Down

From Tempo · () Indonesian

Translated from Indonesian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Interview Named sources Context piece
  • Basuki Hadimuljono, head of the Nusantara Capital City Authority, says IKN remains his home despite spending much of his time in a ministerial housing complex without neighbors.
  • He described plans to develop Nusantara as Indonesia’s political capital under Presidential Regulation No. 79/2025.
  • Basuki discussed the project in an interview after attending his third Independence Day ceremony at IKN.

After more than a year living in a housing complex reserved for ministers in Nusantara, Basuki Hadimuljono still has no neighbors. The head of the Nusantara Capital City Authority fills the quiet by walking through the forest with his wife, fishing and searching for orchids.

Basuki has led the IKN project since his time as Indonesia’s public works and housing minister. He recalled a difficult early period when boxed meals were his only food option, including during the pre-dawn and evening meals of Ramadan, because no restaurants operated in the area.

He now describes Nusantara as the place he returns to, even when official duties take him to Jakarta. “So that we can set our hearts and minds on the idea that IKN is our home,” he said after an Independence Day ceremony at IKN on Aug. 17, 2026.

The ceremony marked Basuki’s third Independence Day appearance at the site. In a roughly 40-minute interview afterward, he explained plans to make IKN Indonesia’s political capital, as stipulated in Presidential Regulation No. 79/2025 on the updated 2025 Government Work Plan.

So that we can set our hearts and minds on the idea that IKN is our home.

— Basuki HadimuljonoHe explained his effort to regard Nusantara as home while discussing the capital city project.
About this summary

Originally published by Tempo in Indonesian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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