JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s president is appealing for support to move the country’s capital from overcrowded, sinking and polluted Jakarta.
President Joko Widodo told parliament in an annual national address Friday that the capital city is not only a symbol of national identity, but also a representation of national progress.
Indonesia’s decades-long discussion about building a new capital on Borneo island inched forward in April when Widodo approved a plan for the capital to move from Jakarta on Java island, the nation’s most populous.
The exact site for a new capital hasn’t been announced.
Jakarta is a sprawling metropolis of 10 million people that swells to three times that number when counting those living in its greater metropolitan area.
The Associated Press
