Jakarta- The construction of Indonesia’s US$34 billion new capital is moving ahead, with lawmakers on Tuesday passing into law the bill governing the administrative centre, which will be named Nusantara.
The name Nusantara (literally, “archipelago”) was chosen by President Joko Widodo to underline the country’s motto of “unity in diversity”.
Minister of National Development Planning Suharso Monoarfa told parliament on Monday that the president wanted the new capital to showcase the diversity Indonesia – the world’s largest archipelago – had to offer.
“So Nusantara is a unity concept that accommodates all of our diversity, whether in race, language, or ethnicity, and the new Indonesian capital, under that name, will reveal that reality,” he said.
Suharso said Widodo had to choose from “around 80” names proposed by historians and language experts. These ranged from newly created names – such as Negara Jaya, Nusantara Jaya, Pertiwipura and Cakrawalapura – to historical ones, such as Kertanegara, the name of the most powerful ruler of the Singhasari Kingdom of Java.
But none of those names offer the familiarity that “Nusantara” does.
Most Indonesians learn this word in school during history lessons and it is used widely to refer to modern day Indonesia.
Source: China Morning Post
