Flawed Legal Framework and Misguided Geopolitical Direction - Politics

Abstract

This review examines $the legal framework and security considerations of IKN$ through descriptive analysis of legislation, court decisions, research, and earlier reports. It distinguishes criticism of Law No. 3 of 2022 from the outcomes of its review by the Constitutional Court. Historical extremist networks in Kalimantan provide context for security planning; they do not establish that relocating the capital increases terrorism. A current threat assessment requires more recent evidence than the historical sources discussed here.

The Capital City and the IKN Relocation

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. A central problem is the lack of a clear legal basis for moving 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. This safety covers the people living around IKN and the country's ability to defend the sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia throughout the Indonesian homeland (Wirawan, 2022).

The Legal Products That Formed the New Capital

The National Capital of the Archipelago (IKN) is a project that covers many fields and 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 2021. 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 $11 \text{ times}$ 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 an academic paper with $175 \text{ pages}$ and $6 \text{ chapters}$ 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 the DPR approved 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 DPR approved the IKN bill based on the results of $11 \text{ sessions}$ with $77 \text{ members}$ physically present at the DPR plenary session at that time, while $190 \text{ members}$ watched it online (Maku et al., 2023). In the plenary session of the House of Representatives, the IKN bill was approved by $8 \text{ out of } 9 \text{ factions}$ . 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).

In case 25/PUU-XX/2022, the Court rejected objections concerning clarity of purpose and the compatibility of delegated rulemaking with Law 12/2011. These findings came from case 25, which is distinct from case 34 discussed above. MK 25/PUU-XX/2022.

Key Legal Issues in the IKN Framework

The DPR approved the IKN bill on 18 January 2022. Law No. 3 of 2022 was subsequently enacted and promulgated on 15 February 2022. Debate about public participation and the academic study continued through several review petitions (Al Fikry, 2022; Benia & Nabilah, 2022). The 21 petitioners in case 34/PUU-XX/2022 filed on 1 March 2022; the first preliminary hearing took place on 24 March 2022.

A 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). On 31 May 2022, the Court declared this petition inadmissible because its account of standing, grounds, and requested relief was unclear. It did not decide the merits. The following are critics’ arguments, rather than constitutional violations established by the Court: MK 40/PUU-XX/2022.

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 for the whole country and every affected region.
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/2022. 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).
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.
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 $43 \text{ days}$ 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).

On 20 July 2022, the Court rejected the formal-review petitions in cases 25/PUU-XX/2022 and 34/PUU-XX/2022. In case 25, deliberation length alone did not establish a procedural defect. Case 34 also rejected objections concerning public input and deliberation of Annex II. Both outcomes differ from the inadmissibility ruling in case 40. MK 25, MK 34.

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 $6 \text{ times}$ 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 $2{,}062 \text{ km}$ 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).

Safrudin (2018) and Wirawan (2022) discuss historical extremist networks in Kalimantan as context for security planning. That history does not itself show that capital relocation will increase terrorism. Wirawan’s 2022 study identifies the following three considerations. The institutional and network descriptions below reflect that historical study, rather than a current threat inventory:

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. The study treats these conditions as considerations for preventive security planning.
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 the whole island of Borneo, including Malaysia and Brunei, reaches $743{,}440 \text{ km}^2$ , at least $58$ major rivers cross it, and $39\%$ of its area is mountains and hills.
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, supports the growth 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. Wirawan (2022) argues that relocation planning should anticipate possible challenges in terms of domestic security and defense, but in terms of international relations, it is likely to remain unchanged. In Wirawan’s (2022) assessment, the move is not expected to 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.

Legal Review and Public Oversight

Capital relocation requires $a clear legal basis and public oversight$ . Formal-review rulings must be distinguished from policy assessments concerning costs, environmental effects, indigenous rights, and security. These concerns remain open to evidence-based scrutiny through their respective oversight mechanisms. Historical extremist-network activity alone cannot predict a rise in threats caused by relocation; assessment requires current threat evidence, prevention capacity, and explicit scenarios.

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 for the whole country and every affected region.
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/2022. 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).
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.
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 $43 \text{ days}$ 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).

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

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. The study treats these conditions as considerations for preventive security planning.
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 the whole island of Borneo, including Malaysia and Brunei, reaches $743{,}440 \text{ km}^2$ , at least $58$ major rivers cross it, and $39\%$ of its area is mountains and hills.
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, supports the growth of terrorist networks in Southeast Asia.