Fate of Indonesia’s Nusantara in doubt again as Prabowo skirts around Widodo legacy project

The fate of Indonesia’s US$33 billion new capital city project is once again in question after president-elect Prabowo Subianto published a manifesto outlining his agenda that failed to mention the controversial legacy project of outgoing leader Joko Widodo.

In an op-ed published last week in Newsweek, the former special forces commander said he “intends to carry forth” his predecessor’s programmes but spent the piece detailing a new set of policies that he campaigned on, including an ambitious free school lunch programme.

Analysts said the op-ed made clear that building the new capital, which has been dubbed Nusantara, would not be one of Prabowo’s priorities.

“It’s clear that he will choose the free lunch programme [over the new capital] because that’s his political promise,” Mohammad Faisal, executive director at Jakarta-based Centre of Reform on Economics (CORE), told This Week in Asia.

“The free nutritious meals programme requires a large budget. With the existing fiscal limitations, of course it will be difficult for Prabowo to continue with the new capital project, and Prabowo really wants to push his [own] legacy programme.”

Arya Fernandes, head of department of politics and social change at Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Indonesia, said Prabowo was “likely sending a message” on where his priorities lay, and it was not with the previous government’s agenda.

Prabowo’s manifesto has also sparked a great deal of speculation online. User @rayestu wrote on X on June 16: “Not sure if this is a popular opinion but free lunch is better than moving the capital. If the money to build the new capital is [used] for free lunch, I’ll support it.”

Prabowo’s Gerindra Party has sought to quell doubts about the