Abstract
This article examines the Nusantara capital city project and its sociological impact on individuals and groups’ rights in the East Kalimantan regions of Penajam Paser Utara (PPU) and Kutai Kartanegara. The Nusantara Act was enacted to legalize the building of this mega-project and was finalized within a period of only 43 days. Thus, the legitimation of the Act is contentious. It is predicted that there will be widespread political, cultural, environmental and economic effects that will be likely to affect society in general and marginalized groups in particular. It raises two important questions, “what are the public rights that could potentially be breached by the Nusantara development project?” and “Is it possible to identify the influence of national and local elites on the process of promoting and legitimizing the Nusantara Act?” This article describes the concept of Nusantara as stipulated in the Act, which is linked to human rights values that are specifically related to the right to development. Based on the mentioned framework, this article finds evidence of autocratic practices in terms of the government’s efforts to acquire land for the project. It has been found that these dictatorial practices have been exacerbated by ‘cooperation’ with extractive industries and local elites. As a result, indigenous groups and the local communities in the area have suffered a loss of autonomy and land rights due to lack of legal protection within the Act.
Acknowledgement
The writing of this article is the result of a collaboration between the National Human Rights Commission of the Republic of Indonesia (KomnasHAM) and the Indonesian Consortium of Human Rights Lecturers (SEPAHAM Indonesia), specifically related to the data collection process through field research conducted in the prospective new capital city regions, Penajam Paser Utara (PPU) and Kutai Kartanegara Districts. In addition to field visits, the authors have also actively communicated with the commissioners in various forums, both formal and informal, such as in Focus Group Discussion (FGD), seminars and workshops. KomnasHAM published some of the data and information obtained through field visits in the form of a policy brief (in Indonesian). However, this article is an expansion and upgraded version of previous work with KomnasHAM. KomnasHAM has granted its permission to submit and publish this article. We have secured ethics clearance for this research. Additionally, there has also been communication with the mainstream media to obtain comprehensive data and information, especially those that cannot be obtained in the field such as professional opinions and arguments regarding the issues written about this article. However, this article does not represent the opinions of the two institutions. This article is purely the thoughts of the authors.
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