Decrease in the function of the people’s representative council of the republic of Indonesia in the policy of relocating the archipelago’s capital city

Based on the data obtained by researchers from various sources, it is said that the executive agency is the most dominant party in making and deciding on plans for the new national capital. This can be seen from the President’s direction to Bappenas (2022) to study and determine the location of the new national capital without involving legislative elements in the discussion of the Archipelago Capital Bill. In fact, moving the nation’s capital will have a huge impact economically, politically, socially and culturally on a national scale.

Of course, this decision cannot be taken unilaterally by the executive, especially if it concerns various strategic issues. Ironically, the ratification of the Archipelago Capital Bill became law very quickly. The House of Representatives only needed 42 days to discuss until the Archipelago Capital Law was passed. In fact, this big project for the capital of the archipelago needs to be discussed carefully and in depth by involving various experts who are experts in their respective fields (Merdeka, 2022).

It appears that the House of Representatives has not utilised its legislative function optimally in discussing the Archipelago Capital Law. It can be seen from the discussion of the journey of the Archipelago Capital Law in inventorying problems, the Panja (working committee) for the Draft Archipelago Capital Law formed by the House of Representatives held only three meetings, namely on 13, 14 and 15 December 2021. The construction of the capital of this archipelago will present a myriad of problems from various sources. Aspects such as the environment, economics, ecology, politics (especially the elimination of regional autonomy rights), potential conflict, socio-cultural and other problems will be involved.

With the rapid discussion of the inventory of problems in just 3 days, the House of Representatives lacked detail in identifying and projecting what problems would later arise in the Archipelago Capital development project in East Kalimantan province. Apart from taking inventory of the various problems, in drafting the substance of the Archipelago Capital Law, the House of Representatives also gave the impression that while formulating it, they were pressed for time.

The author assumes that in this short period of time, much of the substance of this law has not been discussed, and this will be detrimental to the House of Representatives as an institution whose mission is to carry out this legislative function. The House of Representatives appears to agree with the Archipelago Capital Bill proposed by the government. This move is seen as if the essence of the check and balance function between the legislative and executive state institutions is not visible in the context of the formulation of the Archipelago Capital Law, although checks and balances are needed to avoid centralisation of power in the government (Weissberg, 1979).

The lack of discussion time carried out by the House of Representatives makes the supervisory function and role of the House of Representatives in filling out important regulations that must be included in the Archipelago Capital Law seem less than optimal. In fact, in the amendment to the 1945 Constitution, it is stated that the authority to make laws has been placed in the state institution of the House of Representatives.

In the context of the formulation of the Archipelago Capital Law, the People’s Representative Council has also neglected its function given in Article 20 paragraph 1 of the Amendment to the 1945 Constitution, which states that ‘the holder of power in forming laws is the People’s Representative Council and the enactment of laws.’ The state capital is in the form of a law, so constitutionally the person with the authority to do this is the House of Representatives. Of course, the aim of amending the 1945 Constitution in the legislative process for the birth of the Archipelago Capital Law has not been achieved because the People’s Representative Council has not optimally carried out its function as a state legislative institution (Siahaan, 2012).

The author assesses that the large role of the President in drafting the Archipelago Capital Law is the impact of the implementation of the presidential and republican government systems. In this context, it can be seen that there are efforts to strengthen these two systems. The dominance of the president’s authority to move the nation’s capital is due to the fact that the president is both head of state and head of government, as is the substance of the conception of the presidential system of government.

As head of state, a President has a mandate because Indonesia’s form of government is a republic led by the head of state as the highest representative of a country. This is in line with the mandate of the 1945 Constitution, Article 4 paragraph 1 which states that ‘The President of the Republic of Indonesia holds governmental powers according to the Constitution’ (Asshiddiqie, 2010).

Reflecting on these regulations, support emerges for the argument that the president as head of government can be considered to know the various conditions occurring in his government, including the current national capital, namely Jakarta. In this case, the president is considered to know and be responsible for forming an effective government by adopting a policy of moving the nation’s capital.

However, Indonesia actually applies the principle of checks and balances with the aim of preventing potential abuse of power. The problem is, this function has not been carried out optimally by the state legislative institution, which in order to frame laws is mandated to the House of Representatives. Of course, the argument is that oligarchic schemes have occurred in both institutions. There appears to be an orientation towards fulfilling the personal interests or political interests of each element that occupies the legislative and executive state institutions.

This is the concern expressed by Montesquieu (1748) that if the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person or body, then there will no longer be freedom because there is a danger that the king or the same legislative body will carry out tyrannical actions and laws and implement them in cruel ways too. There is a big chance of tyrannical use of power considering the large budget for funding the construction of this new capital city, which reaches a total nominal budget of IDR 466 trillion.

Regarding the Archipelago Capital Law, the House of Representatives must be more active in carrying out its supervisory function in realising a balance of checks and balances in our constitutional system. One of the objectives of the House of Representatives’ supervisory function is to ensure that state administration is carried out in accordance with the established policy direction plans. Furthermore, this function is carried out to ensure the implementation of state administration by the state institution of the House of Representatives in accordance with applicable legal provisions.

In carrying out its function of supervising the running of the government, the People’s Representative Council has actually been given rights and obligations, which must be used effectively and optimally. The rights possessed by the House of Representatives are the right to interpellation, the right to inquiry and the right to express an opinion. In the case of Law Number 3 of 2022 concerning the new national capital (IKN), the House of Representatives must maximise its Right to Inquiry in order to investigate this law.

The Right to Inquiry as referred to in paragraph 1 letter b is Article 79 paragraph 3 of the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 42 of 2014 concerning the People’s Consultative Assembly, the People’s Representative Council, the Regional Representative Council and the Regional People’s Representative Council. The People’s Representative Council, namely the right of the People’s Representative Council is to carry out investigations into the implementation of laws and/or government policies related to important, strategic matters and having a broad impact on the life of society, the nation and the state that are suspected to be detrimental This is contrary to statutory regulations’ (Fuady, 2009).

Law Number 3 of 2022 concerning the new national capital is a strategic policy that has an impact on all aspects of people’s lives, including economic, social, political, legal, environmental and others. The potential for Law Number 3 of 2022 concerning the new national capital is very likely to conflict with other laws, such as in particular the law on the environment and the law on indigenous communities. Considering that the construction of a new capital city in East Kalimantan will result in the forest environment being encroached on for development purposes (Azka et al., 2022).

It is feared that this project will fail or stop midway, while the forest has been cut down. The increasing need for space in the development-implementation process has an impact on the use of available green open space. Green spaces have many benefits such as reducing heat, preventing flooding and lowering groundwater levels, and even providing space for recreation and social interaction. Meanwhile, forests around the new capital-development area have the function of providing environmental ecosystem services such as providing water resources, absorbing carbon, producing oxygen, regulating the climate and providing tourism services and economic resources such as wood and other commodities (Muhammad Sahri, 2022).

The role of this forest is quite large in supporting the sustainability of the surrounding area or as a buffer for other areas, as well as urban areas, which are highly dependent on forest health, both urban forests and forests outside urban areas. The country’s new capital region has serious development challenges related to natural forest resilience due to potential forest degradation. Forest degradation is characterised by a reduction in forest area caused by the use of land within forest areas for non-forestry activities such as mining, settlements and even plantations.

It should be noted that the new capital area of the Archipelago Capital, including parts of Kalimantan Island, has the function of realising the sustainability of biodiversity-conservation areas as state assets. This is what causes Kalimantan to be nicknamed the Lungs of the World. Of course, this risk is very high considering that the budget for building a new capital city is very large, while the total funding budget does not yet exist. Failure or delay in the construction of this new capital city will result in environmental degradation in the East Kalimantan region, which will cause damage to the social order and decline in the quality of natural resources and human resources, which will result in a decline in the quality of economic resources.

What will happen to the fate of indigenous peoples in the new capital region if their environment is damaged. Of course, this will have a big impact in the context of their ecological relationship with the environment. Ironically, the House of Representatives did not maximise its Right to Inquiry to question and investigate this issue more deeply. Another issue that was not investigated in detail by the House of Representatives was questioning the guarantee of the availability and receipt of the total funds for the construction of the new capital, which reached a budget of IDR 466 trillion. Are the calculated sources of financing guaranteed to be received at each time period at the income-realisation stage? It is feared that another disaster will occur, such as the COVID 19 pandemic, which will paralyse various activities, especially economic activities, causing an economic recession. Moreover, in 2024, elections will be held, which will cost a total budget of IDR 76.6 trillion. Of course, fears like these are a concern, as to whether there will be guarantee for the availability of state treasury to carry out this large new capital project.

The largest source of funding for the new capital city reportedly came from government collaboration with business entities and IDR 123.2 trillion (26.4%) from private funding (Ministry of Finance, 2019). The largest source of funding comes from government collaboration with business entities, where the estimated capital that will be generated from the government collaboration mechanism with business entities is 55% of the total budget required. The problem here is, which private business entities want to be involved in funding this new capital project? Is it enough to use domestic business entities or also involve foreign business entities in the construction of this new capital city project? (Miftahul Huda Noor, 2016).

As is known, the orientation of business entities to invest in the new national capital region generally aims to exploit resources in the mining sector. This is normal, because the private sector certainly has an interest in making a profit. It is feared that there will be a massive mining exploitation agenda, which will have a negative impact on the environmental ecosystem. Facing this problem, have the Government and the House of Representatives made regulations to prevent excessive exploitation?

The author estimates that this matter can be formulated through a Government Regulation derived from Law Number 3 of 2022 concerning the new national capital. Ironically, if the focus is only on derivative Government Regulations, then where is the role of the People’s Representative Council that actually carries out legislative functions in accordance with its independence compared to executive institutions. It would be a shame if the House of Representatives were not critical in carrying out its supervisory function in the process of drafting Law Number 3 of 2022 concerning the new national capital, considering that there are so many huge problems that will have an impact on the economy. development project for the archipelago’s capital. The House of Representatives should be more careful and thorough in reviewing the regulations for moving this new capital city.