New exclusions in the making: the land deals of Indonesian’s State Capital Relocation (IKN) Project

Indonesia is ground-breaking the new capital city (IKN) in East Kalimantan, and current intensive development is initiated in the Sepaku District around Pemaluan and Bumi Harapan Villages which are allocated for the Central Government Core Area (KIPP). These villages have been claimed by the government to be an ‘empty land’ without any inhabitants, on the basis that the official classification of ‘state forest’ covers the land, which has also been allocated for timber and palm oil concessions. However, the current condition has been shaped by multiple waves of exclusion that created widespread land-based inequality. Bringing the case study methodology with an emphasis on the historical analysis dimension, this research examines how the engagement of exclusion from previous land deals relates to the exclusion through the IKN’s land deal and how its exclusion dynamic in KIPP area currently played out and unfolding in the future. The exclusion mechanisms and power (such as actors, political organizations, regulations, forces, market, and legitimation) which are exercised in perpetuating the process of exclusions both in previous events and in the present IKN land deal are demonstrated in this paper. The result suggests not necessarily understanding the exclusion as a displacement but more into an act of limiting people to access the land or ‘control grabbing’. Hence, it becomes clearer to see who suffers and who has been benefited from the provided land deals. In this case, the future urbanization process in the IKN land deal might deliver local villagers to a new wave of exclusion. This research paper involves primary empirical data through fieldwork supported by research assistant and processed learning with secondary data and literature.