IKN Isn't Being Haltered. It's Just Slowing Down

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - After more than a year living in a housing complex reserved for ministers in Nusantara Capital City (IKN) in North Penajam Paser, East Kalimantan, Basuki Hadimuljono still has no neighbors. To pass the time, the Head of the Nusantara Capital City Authority often takes walks into the forest with his wife. On other occasions, they go fishing or look for orchids.

Having led the IKN project since serving as Minister of Public Works and Housing, Basuki went through a difficult period at the beginning. Every day, he had to eat boxed meals, even for the pre-dawn meal and the meal to break his fast during the Ramadan fasting month. There were no restaurants in the area.

Basuki is now trying to make IKN his home. Even when he travels to Jakarta on official business, he regards IKN as the place he returns to. “So that we can set our hearts and minds on the idea that IKN is our home,” he said after an Independence Day ceremony at IKN on Monday, August 17, 2026.

That day marked the third time Basuki had attended the Independence Day ceremony at IKN. Afterward, he sat down for a roughly 40-minute interview with Tempo journalist Riri Rahayuningsih. Basuki explained plans to make IKN the political capital, as stipulated in Presidential Regulation No. 79/2025 on the Updated 2025 Government Work Plan.