The capital city of the archipelago (IKN) has been highlighted by foreign media. It focuses on a magnificent palace in the middle of the forest, but it is predicted to become a dead city despite the hopes of the residents.
“Indonesia’s new capital, Nusantara, a utopian project, seemed to appear out of thin air. In the dense forest, a large highway suddenly appeared among the trees, leading to a palace at the top of which a garuda bird’s wings glistened under the equatorial sun. However, among the rows of futuristic buildings, the main streets of Nusantara looked deserted, with only a few gardeners and a handful of curious tourists.”
That was the opening sentence in The Guardian in an article entitled Indonesia’s New Capital, Nusantara, in Danger of Becoming A ‘Ghost City’. The article was published on Tuesday (29/10/2025).
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The article is accompanied by a photo of tourists posing against the backdrop of a wing installation statue located in the Taman Kusuma Bangsa plaza, which is directly opposite the Garuda Palace complex (president’s office) in the core government area of IKN.
The article also states that after three years of being launched by former President Joko Widodo, now IKN is haunted by fears of becoming a ghost town. At that time, Jokowi said that the construction of the IKN was to replace Jakarta, which was hit by heavy pollution, too densely populated, and had the potential to sink.
“Under President Prabowo Subianto, who has been in office since last October, state funding for the new capital project has fallen by more than half, from 2 billion pounds sterling in 2024 to 700 million pounds sterling in 2025. Next year, the government is allocating a budget for IKN of 300 million pounds sterling, a third of the requested amount. Private investment is also more than 1 billion pounds sterling short of the target,” the article stated.
The article also stated that Prabowo, as a figure who had never visited IKN after becoming president, also secretly downgraded the archipelago’s status to “political capital” in May. Prabowo then announced it to the public in September.
Referring to the article, currently 2,000 ASN and 8,000 construction workers live in IKN, far from the target of 1.2 million people by 2030. Apartment blocks, ministry buildings, hospitals, roads, water systems and airports have been built.
Herdiansyah Hamzah, a constitutional law expert from Mulawarman University in East Kalimantan, said IKN had become a ghost town and the designation of a political capital had no meaning in Indonesian law.
“A new capital is not a priority for Prabowo,” he said. Politically, he doesn’t want IKN to die, but at the same time he doesn’t want IKN to live.
Despite delays and setbacks, those involved in the IKN project remain optimistic.
“The president (Prabowo) told me, ‘This is my commitment to continue and finish it even faster’,” said Basuki Hadimuljono, head of the Archipelago Capital Authority (OIKN).
Basuki also confirmed that reports about a slowdown in construction and a lack of political will were untrue.
“Funding is there, political commitment is there. Why should we doubt it? Funding has been reallocated, not cut,” said Basuki again in the article.
In the article, The Guardian met shop owners and construction workers at IKN. They both said that IKN was starting to get quiet, not as busy as before.
Balik Indigenous Peoples
For the Balik indigenous community, who live near the Sepaku River, less than 20 km from the location, the IKN development has had quite a real impact. Arman, a local farmer and fisherman, said that flooding had gotten worse since a water treatment plant was built on the Sepaku River.
The domino effect is that crop yields fall by half. The government’s promise that the new installation would provide clean water never materialized.
“The water only flows to IKN,” he said.
He said that dozens of families in the Balik tribe could no longer take water directly from the river because of pollution and the presence of a new dam.
Even so, the Balik community still hopes that IKN will succeed and continue to live. They hope the new city will bring more attention to Balik culture and tourism in their region.
“If this project stops, we lose everything, but if it continues without involving us, we also lose,” he said.
Clariza, a visitor from the neighboring island of Sulawesi, expressed praise for IKN.
“It feels like Singapore. Clean, modern, like something impossible in the middle of the jungle,” he said.
He also hopes that Nusantara can help shift the center of Indonesia’s wealth from Java, which has so far dominated politics and state power.
“For us who live in the eastern region, it feels more centralized if the capital is here,” he said.
“But it also feels strange and lonely. There’s no one here yet,” he added.
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