Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – For the first time since it declared independence in 1945, Indonesia held its official national day celebrations outside Jakarta this year. Flag-raising ceremonies were observed simultaneously on Aug. 17 in Jakarta, on the island of Java, and in Nusantara, the country's new capital city, currently being carved out the jungles of Borneo.
President Joko Widodo oversaw the celebration in Nusantara, with Vice President Ma'ruf Amin presiding over the ceremony in Jakarta. Days earlier, the president, popularly known as Jokowi, had complained that the State Palace in Jakarta, the former seat of the Dutch colonial governor, "smells colonial," and contrasted it with the newly built presidential palace in Nusantara.
The Garuda Palace, named and designed after a mythical bird that also serves as Indonesia's state emblem, is meant to symbolize the country's founding value of "unity in diversity." It's also designed to be a "green building," in line with Jokowi's broader claims that the new capital will be an environmentally friendly and "smart" city.
But that's not the case, according to architect Tiyok Prasetyoadi, deputy chair of the Green Building Council Indonesia, which advises developers on minimizing their environmental and carbon footprints.
The massive Garuda structure that serves as the dramatic backdrop to the new palace features a pair of wings constructed with 4,661 blades of steel, copper and brass. Each blade weighs 0.3 metric tons, for a total weight of nearly 1,400 metric tons per wing.
That, said Tiyok, is "excessive."
"The Garuda statue uses a lot of copper and brass, which is very extractive and destructive to the Earth," he told Mongabay. The mining and processing of such large amounts of copper and brass just for the statue likely had a significant carbon footprint, he added.
As such, the government's claim that the new presidential palace is a green building needs to be questioned, he said.
Green or greenwashing?
The Ministry of Public Works and Housing, which oversaw the palace's construction, has already certified it as green and smart. The state-owned company contracted to carry out the construction, PT Perumahan Pembangunan (PP), said the qualifying standards are listed in a 2021 regulation issued by the public works ministry.
"The concept of green building emphasizes efficient utilization of resources, good waste management, and optimum indoor environmental quality," PP secretary Joko Raharjo said as quoted by local media. "Meanwhile, the concept of smart building integrates advanced technology to optimize energy and water consumption, as well as the entire building infrastructure."
As such, the Garuda Palace has become "a role model for environmentally friendly development," he said.
But actual standards for green and smart buildings have already been independently developed, and it shouldn't be up to the public works ministry to define its own standards and then claim that the palace it commissioned has met them, Tiyok said.
That puts the objectivity and credibility of the assessment into doubt, he said.
To truly determine whether the new presidential palace is green or not, there needs to be an independent assessment looking at things like whether the building uses LED lamps and low-energy air-conditioning. While data on the new building's energy used hasn't been publicly disclosed, it doesn't appear to be energy efficient, judging just from the sheer amount of lighting it uses, especially on its wings, said Dwi Sawung, who oversees zoning and infrastructure issues at Walhi, Indonesia's largest environmental NGO.
"Many people are protesting why the palace has lots of lighting and is bright [at night]. It means that the building consumes lots of energy as it has too many lights," he told Mongabay.
Tiyok said green building standards also have to consider the material used in construction. And the fact that the Garuda Palace is more form than function means the material use isn't even trying to be efficient, he said.
This theme of excessive use of materials also applies more widely to the development of the new capital itself, according to Walhi.
Impacts an island away
Much of the material needed to construct the new capital, such as sand and rock, are sourced from the island of Sulawesi, east of Borneo, President Jokowi said earlier this year.
"The value [of the material] amounts to not billions [of rupiah[, but trillions," he said as quoted by local media. "So as we build in East Kalimantan, Central Sulawesi [province] is [also] benefiting."
According to Walhi, in 2021, the governor of Central Sulawesi struck an agreement with his counterpart in East Kalimantan, where the new capital is located, to supply 30 million metric tons of rock. Since then, there's been a significant increase in the number of permits issued for quarrying in Central Sulawesi, said Yusman, director of the provincial chapter of Walhi.
In 2020, there were only 16 quarrying permits in Central Sulawesi. This year, that number has increased to 51 permits, he said.
Central Sulawesi Governor Rusdy Mastura has confirmed that much of the stone is being used to build Nusantara.
"I'd like to thank President Jokowi who has moved the capital to East Kalimantan. Now, my mountains are being torn down. That's my first contribution to Kalimantan," he said in March as quoted by local media.
Rusdy later said that quarrying in the region was being done "responsibly" under the requisite environmental permits.
However, Walhi has traced the increase in quarrying activities in Central Sulawesi to myriad environmental problems. For one, there has been an increase of flooding in the region as quarrying has degraded the earth's capacity to absorb excess rainwater, Yusman said. Quarrying activities have also resulted in dust, affecting local communities, he added.
A 2024 report by Walhi Central Sulawesi found that people living near quarries have to close all the doors in their houses to prevent dust from entering. Motorcyclists also have to wear masks and googles because of the dust, compromising their vision.
"I almost hit the back of a truck because of [the lack of] visibility," Amir, a motorcyclist, said as quoted in the report.
The report also cited data from local health clinics in 2023 that recorded 2,422 people suffering from upper respiratory tract infections. Walhi said it suspects the quarrying activity contributed to many of these cases.
"Therefore, Central Sulawesi is bearing the burden of the new capital," Yusman said. "The government always touts the new capital as a green city, but Central Sulawesi is being destroyed [because of it]."