Jokowi says Indonesia will bid to host 2036 Olympics in new capital – The Diplomat

Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has officially announced that his government will submit a bid to host the 2036 Olympics in its capital, Nusantara, which is yet to be built.

Jokowi made this statement live on the President’s Secretariat YouTube channel yesterday, at the close of the G-20 Leaders’ Summit in Bali. “On this occasion, I express Indonesia’s desire and willingness to host the 2036 Olympic Games in the future capital of Nusantara,” Jokowi said in a statement. by pace.

He also hailed the role of sport in bringing humanity together amid the crises that have marred Indonesia’s G-20 presidency this year, including the Russian-Ukrainian war and growing tensions between China and the United States.

“As Chairman of the G-20 Summit and along with other G-20 leaders, I have highlighted the importance of sport for health and its ability to bring the world together, especially in the current global situation,” he added. “The success of the next Olympic and Paralympic Games will highlight the importance of maintaining global neutrality in international sporting events and governing bodies.”

First announced in 2019, the city of Nusantara is being built in the province of East Kalimantan, about 1,300 kilometers from Jakarta. The government hopes that the new city will replace Jakarta as Indonesia’s capital by 2024.

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Indonesia’s bid was welcome International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach “after seeing the presentation of the Nusantara project and the progress already made,” he said. “I am deeply impressed by President Widodo’s vision to develop this city as a sustainable lifestyle model with a particular focus on health and sports.”

If successful, Nusantara would become the first city in Southeast Asia to host the Olympics, though not the first to bid to do so: both Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympics. Among other nations considered rival for hosting rights in 2036 – Mexico, South Korea, UK, Egypt, Germany, India and Qatar.

This is not the first time the Jokowi administration has bid to host the Olympics. At the end of 2020, Indonesia is preparing unsuccessful bid to host 2032 games in Jakarta, an event ultimately won by Brisbane. As for Jokowi told his office at the time, the bid was intended to build on Indonesia’s successful hosting of the 2018 Asian Games, which “strengthened our confidence and opened the world’s eyes to Indonesia’s ability to host international events.”

During Jakarta’s Olympic bid, I observed that its “prestigious value and seeming disregard for economic rationality” was in many ways reminiscent of Jokowi’s $40 billion plan to build a new capital on the island of Borneo. It is therefore perhaps fitting that the new capital, dubbed Nusantara, is the proposed host city for the 2036 Games.

But given that the construction of the new capital has barely begun, and the difficulties the government is facing in attracting investment to Nusantara, any talk of hosting the Olympics seems extremely premature. Whether the new city will be completed by 2036, let alone host a major international sporting event, remains in question.

However, the proposal provides an interesting insight into the ambitions and vision of Indonesia’s seventh president. In “The Man of Controversy,” his 2020 biography of Jokowi, Ben Bland wrote that the scale of the new capital project was “a testament to his quirky nature and his disorganized management style.”

The plan to use the premier international sporting event to showcase his accomplishments also reflects his penchant for prestigious mega projects and his desire to leave an indelible mark on Indonesia.