Jakarta. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said Tuesday that the existing presidential palaces remind him of Dutch colonial rule as the incumbent leader once again tried to defend his decision to build an entirely new capital, including a massive, Garuda-inspired presidential workplace.

Jokowi has been in the new capital Nusantara for the past couple of days. The president gathered sub-national government leaders in Nusantara on Tuesday morning. As expected, Jokowi talked about the planned capital, which has been making headlines for its visually striking Garuda Palace, among other things. 

Jokowi told the attending regional government heads how Dutch East Indies governor-generals had previously lived in the Merdeka Palace and the State Palace in Jakarta. The same goes for the Bogor Palace. 

“And we [Indonesian presidents] have been living there for 79 years. Whenever I’m there, I can feel how these palaces reek of colonialism every day. It feels like I’m being haunted [by this colonialism],” Jokowi said.

According to Jokowi, the new capital is proof that Indonesia can build a city --including a palace -- on its own and without any colonial influence. He added: “We want to show that we possess the ability to construct a capital as we wish. One that uses our very own design, but I do admit this will take a long time.” 

Jokowi said the new capital construction would likely finish over the next 10-15 years. He also admitted that the project had reached around 20 percent completion.

Jokowi has been switching between working from Jakarta or Bogor, and most recently, Nusantara. There were times when he hosted world leaders in his Bogor palace, including former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. 

The Garuda Palace takes inspiration from the mythical bird of Indonesia’s emblem Pancasila. It will serve as the president’s workplace. The State Palace --which is close to the Garuda Palace -- will be the head of state's residence. 

Early government estimates show that the entire Nusantara project would cost a total of $33 billion. However, Indonesia is relying mostly on private investments to fund the capital relocation. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani announced Tuesday that the government had spent Rp 11.2 trillion ($704.7 million) on the Nusantara megaproject so far this year as of July.

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