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:
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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:
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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.
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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.
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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?