Muddy yet clear-cut: How Chinese investors are turning jungle into Indonesia’s new capital

After an hour’s drive through the jungle of Borneo, you reach more jungle. Your rental van from the Balikpapan city airport shakes precariously, navigating a partial bridge washout. A roadside sign admonishes against poaching the endangered sun bears. By hour three you’ve arrived at Indonesia’s new capital, which is due to start taking over from gridlocked, polluted and seaward-sinking Jakarta in 2028. Welcome to Ibu Kota Nusantara, known locally as just Nusantara or IKN. Eventually, if all g...

By Ralph Jennings