# Nakafa Framework: LLM

URL: /en/articles/politics/flawed-legal-geopolitics
Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nakafaai/nakafa.com/refs/heads/main/packages/contents/articles/politics/flawed-legal-geopolitics/en.mdx

Output docs content for large language models.

---

export const metadata = {
  title: "Flawed Legal Framework and Misguided Geopolitical Direction",
  description:
    "Overlapping legal bases and an emerging terrorist threat. What is behind Indonesia's bold move to move its capital to Kalimantan?",
  authors: [
    {
      name: "Shifna Zihdatal Haq",
    },
  ],
  date: "08/05/2024",
};

## Abstract

This research uses a qualitative study method, drawing from various sources and previous reports,
and provides a descriptive analysis to examine the dynamics of the legal framework underpinning
the IKN project, specifically Law No. 2 of 2022, along with its various obstacles. Additionally,
this research discusses the IKN from a geostrategic and geopolitical perspective, revealing the
presence of terrorism threats in the new capital area.

## Introduction

The heart of a country lies in its capital city. The center of the country's government depends
on the condition of the capital city. Some countries have a split capital system for their
capital cities, which means that government activities in a country are located in several
cities, unlike Indonesia, which applies the classic capital system, which means that the center
of government is concentrated in one capital city only. This government includes the
administrative center in the legislative, executive, and judicial aspects (Habibie, 2022).
Many countries have experienced the transition of moving the national capital based on various
considerations. Still, certainly, the relocation of the national capital is carried out by
considering the social conditions of the country and can happen if the government wants.
Indonesia has been planning to move the capital since the time of President Sukarno and has
finally started to implement the plan under President Jokowi. Long before the Indonesian
government decided to move the national capital, there were several other countries in other
parts of the world that had already done so (Amal & Sulistyawan, 2022). Concerning the process
of relocating the national capital, economic, social, environmental, and various other issues
become dynamic in the relocation process. From a legal point of view, the plan to relocate the
national capital is interesting. Therefore, several legal issues arise, especially concerning
the procedure for moving the national capital. This problem arises at the heart of the plan to
move the national capital because of its legal consequences. The first factor that is very
crucial is the lack of a clear legal basis on how to move the capital (Mahardika & Saputra, 2022).

Since East Kalimantan was chosen as the new capital of Indonesia in 2019, many analyses have
been conducted on the environmental, social, national security, and macroeconomic impacts.
Aspects such as defense and security related to international relations studies and Indonesia's
foreign policy issues in the context of regional geopolitical architecture have also become
important to discuss. This is due to the lofty ideals of the country's founders, who wanted
Indonesia to be a great country in the world. A more specific criterion of this standard is
that the new capital should be a safe place for the hundreds of millions of people living in
Indonesia. Safe here means not only safe for the people living in the IKN environment but also
a symbol of national strength capable of defending the sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia
throughout the Indonesian homeland (Wirawan, 2022).

## The Dynamics of the Formation of the Capital of the Archipelago (IKN) Legal Products

The National Capital of the Archipelago (IKN) is a multifaceted project that is part of
Indonesia's long-term project, therefore a clear legal basis is needed in the process. As the
legal basis for this project, Law No. 3 of 2022 on the National Capital City was enacted. It
has been a long journey for this law to reach the point of ratification. This is because the
dynamics of the issue and the rejection by factions in the DPR make it necessary to analyze
this law further. The formation of Law No. 3 of 2022 began with an initiative by President
Jokowi regarding his plan to relocate the capital, which is located in Jakarta, to East
Kalimantan in 2019. The planning to move the capital city resulted in a presidential letter
on the draft national capital law and the formation of a special committee on the draft
national capital law (Sembiring et al., 2023). The plenary session of the House of
Representatives (DPR) and the President on the National Capital Bill was held for the first
time on 7 December 2002. At this inaugural session, a special committee on the draft law on
the capital was formed with the task of developing the content of the draft law. After that,
the special committee meetings on the bill began, and the House of Representatives immediately
focused on discussing the bill for a week, as the recess period was approaching. The Select
Committee met 11 times with various authorities before the recess. In addition, the Select
Committee formed a working committee to discuss the list of issues before the recess. The
working committee then formed a select committee to discuss these issues (Farisa, 2022).

At the drafting stage, the National Development Planning Agency of the Republic of Indonesia
prepared a 175-page, 6-chapter academic paper on the IKN bill. The text concludes that
Jakarta is no longer an ideal province for a capital city (Bappenas, 2021). At this stage of
the preparation, several criticisms related to the academic text of the IKN Bill emerged from
different groups. These criticisms include various things that lead to the conclusion that
this bill is formally flawed. On 17 January 2022, the day before President Jokowi passed the
IKN bill, the discussion in the DPR was almost unanimous. Only the PKS faction rejected the
IKN bill. Subsequently, on 18 January 2022, the President approved the IKN Law based on the
results of 11 sessions with 77 members physically present at the DPR plenary session at that
time, while 190 members watched it online (Maku et al., 2023). In the plenary session of the
House of Representatives, the IKN bill was approved by 8 out of 9 factions. The only group to
reject it was the PKS. PKS gave seven reasons for its rejection. Furthermore, in March 2022,
several national figures filed a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court (MK), and the trial
began on 24 March 2022. 21 plaintiffs registered in the case number 34/PUUXX/2022, consisting
of eminent personalities such as Prof. Dr. Azyumardi Azra and M. Sirajuddin Syamsuddin
(Aditya & Meiliana, 2022).

The Constitutional Court ruled that the first challenge was based on the "principle of clarity
of purpose". The Court ruled that the evidence submitted by the candidates was insufficient to
show that the objection was legal. They also did not have the opportunity to reject the
objection. In addition, the plaintiffs argued that the provisions of Article 5(c) of Law No.
12/2011 on the nature, hierarchy, and content of laws and regulations violated Law No. 3/2022.
The plaintiffs argued that Law No. 3/2022 contradicted these principles. In its response, the
Constitutional Court stated that the delegation procedure of Law No. 3 of 2022 was under the
technical rules established by Law No. 12 of 2011 (Maku et al., 2023).

## Analysis of Key Issues Related to Law 3 of 2022 as IKN's Legal Framework

The process of drafting and ratifying the legal basis for the IKN capital, Law No. 3 of 2022,
has gone through several challenges. During the drafting process of this law, various reactions
were received from different parties, both pro and con. The ratification of Law No. 3 of 2022,
which took place on 18 January 2022, caused a lot of opposition. It was noted that on 15
February 2022, members of the community, ranging from leaders to indigenous people to volunteer
teachers, submitted formal and material tests to the Constitutional Court (Al Fikry, 2022).
The process of drafting the IKN law has many elements related to legal policy, which has
generated many pros and cons from the community. First, there is the academic text of the IKN
law (Benia & Nabilah, 2022). On 24 March 2022, several national figures filed a complaint with
the Constitutional Court (MK). The application was registered under case number 34/PUU-XX/2022
by 21 applicants (Maku et al., 2023).

The first rejection came from Herifuddin Daulay, who works as a volunteer teacher. In his
application, he cited several reasons for reviewing the academic text of the IKN law. These
reasons are that the academic text of the IKN Law does not contain an error test, the academic
text does not contain error correction techniques, the basis for the relocation of the national
capital is not based on the prosperity of the nation and the state, the IKN Law does not contain
an analysis of the problems that will arise, an explanation of the comparison of the relocation
of the national capital in Indonesia with other countries that serve as guidelines is still too
short, and the law does not contain a deadline for the population migration to the new national
capital (Constitutional Court, 2022a). However, this test was rejected because, according to the
Constitutional Court's decision number 40/PUU-XX/2022, Herifuddin Daulay's application failed to
clearly describe the stated requirements, making the entire application unclear. In addition to
the opinion of Herifuddin Daulay, several important points make Law No. 3 of 2022 contrary to
the Constitution, namely:

1. The decision to relocate the capital to East Kalimantan is considered a decision that does
   not take into account the interests of other regions as a whole, which are more urgent than
   this decision. This refers to the violation of Article 1 (1) of the 1945 Constitution of the
   Republic of Indonesia, which states that Indonesia is a unitary state in the form of a republic.
   This article explains that the Indonesian state consists of many different regions, each of
   which has equal rights. Therefore, when someone decides to move the national capital from Jakarta
   to East Kalimantan, they should consider the benefits of the whole country, not just one region.

2. Public participation in the process of drafting the National Capital City Law was very limited.
   The transparency of the process was minimal, which became the main reason for the applicant's
   petition in Constitutional Court Decision No. 25/PUU-XX/202218. This participation and
   transparency leads to a violation of Article 1 (2) and Article 1 (3) of the 1945 Constitution
   of the Republic of Indonesia, which states that the sovereignty of the state is in the hands of
   the people and shall be implemented under the Constitution (Benia & Nabilah, 2022). The concept
   of people's sovereignty means that the people have the supreme power. In other words, power is
   absolutely of, by, and for the people. Therefore, the government should consider the interests
   of the people during the process of drafting Law 3/2022 on the National Capital and implement
   the process by following the existing rules and regulations (Darussalam & Indra, 2021).

3. Article 1(2) of Law No. 3/2022 on the National Capital declares that the National Capital is
   a regional government that has special characteristics and is at the same level as a province,
   which does not follow the declaration in Article 18(1) of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic
   of Indonesia. Law 3/2022 on the National Capital does not specify whether the region will be
   divided into regencies or cities. This is not in line with the definition of the region in the
   1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, where the provincial government has a legislative
   council elected by universal suffrage.

4. The rule of law and its relationship to the short timeframe of the IKN Law. The fact that the
   IKN Law was drafted in only 43 days makes the process ineffective, especially in terms of
   encouraging public participation. The quality of the content of the IKN law is affected by this
   short time. Due to its hasty drafting, the content of the IKN Law is considered to be materially
   flawed because it contradicts the 1945 Constitution (Benia & Nabilah, 2022).

Concerning violations of Article 1(2), Article 1(3), Article 18, Article 27(1), and Article
28C(2) of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, the Constitutional Court, in its
decision No. 25/PUU-XX/2022, rejected all applications related to the enactment of Law 3/2022
on the National Capital. According to the Court, the drafting process must follow the procedures
for drafting laws set out in the Law on the Formation of Legislation. This means that a law
cannot be judged defective or not based on the length or speed of the process alone. In the
opinion of the Court, the petitioners' arguments are not legally founded (Constitutional Court,
2022b).

## Geostrategic Threats in the IKN Region to the Dynamics of Indonesian Geopolitics

Geography refers to the space arranged in an area that includes defense areas, battles, killing
ground communication areas, regional logistics areas, and so on. Referring to the statement by
Supriyatno (2018), defense geography is part of the tool that focuses on the physical and social
environment on the politics of defense policy and strategy, planning, budgeting, programs, and
operations of combat units (satpur), combat support units (sabanpur) and administrative support
units (satbanmin). In this aspect, the capital of the archipelago (IKN) has a greater 'strategic
depth'. This is due to several things, namely the island of Kalimantan, which is 6 times larger
than the island of Java. This area leads to the establishment of an integrated defense industry
cluster. In addition, territorial borders (land, sea, and air) that are increasingly close to
other countries' territories will increase defense and security threats. The land border with
Malaysia is 2,062 km long. And IKN is within the ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) and
hypersonic missile ranges of certain countries. From a maritime perspective, the location of IKN
also coincides with the Indonesian Archipelago Sea Route (ALKI) II and the world's choke points.
In the aviation sector, the location of IKN is close to the Flight Information Region (FIR) of
neighboring countries such as Singapore, Kinabalu Malaysia, and Manila Philippines (Habibie, 2022).

This location certainly presents East Kalimantan with different challenges to Jakarta's defense
and security policies. The region's proximity to the borders of other countries has made East
Kalimantan a desirable area for militant terrorist groups to base themselves on. This is
evidenced by the emergence of Muhammad Aceng Kurnia, a member of Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD)
East Kalimantan, as the perpetrator of the Oikumene church bombing. Further investigation
revealed that East Kalimantan is the base of one of Indonesia's terrorist networks, which is
also linked to ISIS. This is exacerbated by East Kalimantan's position as part of Mantiqi
Tsalis (Region III) of Jemaah Islamiyah's four operational areas, which is specifically
designated to support training camps from the main base in Mindanao and become the main military
base for Indonesia (Safrudin, 2018). Since 2002, Kalimantan has become one of the centers of
terrorist activities in Southeast Asia. This is based on 3 reasons according to research
(Wirawan, 2022), namely:

1. Kalimantan has a low military concentration and minimal defense and security infrastructure
   compared to its vast area. Being a large island, Kalimantan has only 2 regional military
   commands (Kodam) based in Balikpapan and Pontianak, 5 regional police stations scattered
   throughout the provinces, 2 main naval bases located quite far from the new IKN in Tarakan and
   Pontianak, and 6 air force bases. This will certainly have a major impact on the increasing
   opportunities for terrorist syndicates to form alliances or set up headquarters.

2. The hilly and mountainous contours of Kalimantan provide space for terrorism to find new
   areas as military bases for terrorism. As we know, most of Kalimantan Island is surrounded by
   forests. The area of Kalimantan reaches 743,440 square kilometers, at least 58 major rivers
   cross it, and 39% of its area is mountains and hills.

3. The proximity of East Kalimantan to other terrorist network bases in Southeast Asia, such
   as Mindanau and Sabah, makes this region geographically very strategic for combining the
   strength of terrorist bases with the territories of other countries. This is reinforced by the
   fact that Kalimantan, as Mantiqi Tsalis, plays an important role in the development of
   terrorist networks in Southeast Asia.

The geographical situation of defense is quite risky, so the relocation of the new capital to
the East Kalimantan region deserves more attention, especially in defense and security issues.
The relocation of the capital to East Kalimantan is likely to cause or increase problems in
terms of domestic security and defense, but in terms of international relations, it is likely
to remain unchanged. Geopolitically, the move to East Kalimantan will not change Indonesia's
foreign policy. The direction of Indonesia's foreign policy in terms of geopolitics in the
Asia-Pacific region will not change significantly as a result of the project to move the
capital from Jakarta to Kalimantan (Wirawan, 2022). No change in the content of foreign
geopolitics does not mean that it does not affect the pattern of Indonesia's relations with
several countries. The need for investors in the relocation project has led Indonesia to
slightly change the pattern of relations with other countries such as the United Arab Emirates,
the United States, China, and Japan (Mujiono & Sagena, 2020). Therefore, the geostrategic
condition of IKN as the new capital of Indonesia provides several opportunities and threats
in different areas. Integration and stability of planning are important discussions throughout
this project, so community monitoring will continue to be sought as a form of participation
in the development of this project, which involves various aspects and parties.

## Conclusion

The legal umbrella that protects the IKN relocation project is something that continues to be
questioned. The relocation of the capital city is part of the history of a country including
Indonesia. A major phenomenon such as the relocation of a new capital city must be based on a
clear legal basis and a strong legal roof. Along with the planning that was initiated in this
project, Law No. 3 of 2022 was passed as a legal product that hopes to be able to convince the
public that moving the new capital city from Jakarta to Kalimantan is something that does not
need to be worried about. However, during the process, according to many parties, it was not
under the 1945 Constitution as the top guideline for regulations in Indonesia. Law No. 3 of
2022 on the Archipelago's Capital City was criticized so much that several parties filed a
request to the Supreme Court regarding a review of this law. Several parties criticized that
Law No. 3 of 2022 on the Capital City violated several articles in the 1945 Constitution,
namely Article 1 paragraph (2), Article 1 paragraph (3), Article 18, Article 27 paragraph (1),
and Article 28C paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia. However,
all requests submitted were rejected with the issuance of Constitutional Court Decision Number
25/PUU-XX/2022.

The Constitutional Court considered that the submitted petition did not have legal clarity and
further explained in the decision that Law No. 3 of 2022 concerning the National Capital City
in the formation process had followed the procedures for the formation of laws stipulated in
the Law on the Formation of Legislation. This decision has hit several parties for injustice
and concerns regarding the IKN project in the future. The community believes that the
shortcomings in the legal framework of a project of this size will affect many parties. This
is because the relocation of the capital will require a large amount of budgetary funds, the
deprivation of the rights of the indigenous peoples, the threat of environmental damage, and
the increase in the threat of terrorism. The threat of terrorism is even greater if the
capital is moved to Kalimantan, which was previously the base of a terrorist syndicate linked
to Malaysia. Do you think the government has done enough to address all these concerns?
