Small wonder, then, that the president, Joko Widodo, who is known as Jokowi, wants to move the capital. On April 29th Bambang Brodjonegoro, the planning minister, announced that the government will leave the island of Java, where Jakarta sits, although it is still considering where to go. The intention, in addition to escaping (and reducing) congestion in Jakarta, is to shrink regional inequalities. Indonesia is an archipelago of 13,000 or so islands, but Java generates about 58% of GDP.
The relocation could take ten years. It is likely to face stern resistance, not least from Indonesia’s tycoons, who do not want to see the value of their Jakarta penthouses fall. Civil servants will probably object too, because the most likely new site for the capital is something of a backwater.
Palangkaraya is a city of 260,000 in the province of Central Kalimantan, part of the Indonesian portion of Borneo. Whereas Jakarta lacks greenery, Palangkaraya has it in abundance: the city is in the middle of the jungle. There is a titchy airport; the nearest seaport is a four-hour drive away, past an orangutan reserve. Much of the surrounding terrain is soft and swampy—not ideal for building skyscrapers. And when nearby peatlands burn, a toxic haze fills the air. Government officials may be sinking and choking in their new digs, too.