Sinking City: Jakarta City Council 2025

Jakarta is is by far the largest city in Indonesia, one of the most densely populated urban areas in the world, and as of August 17, 2024, no longer the capital of Indonesia. There are a myriad of reasons as of why Indonesia decided to move their capital to a whole other Island. Since 1940, Jakarta has experienced massive population growth and although that has brought economic prosperity to the region, it has also created immense pressure on the city’s infrastructure and environment causing the land under the city to be sinking rapidly. Additionally, their population size and reliance on coal-fired power plants has lead to some of the worst pollution issues in the world. Jakarta is notorious for their smog and their pollution levels consistently land the city on the list of most polluted cities in the world with their average pollution levels averaging 8 times higher than the WHO recommended guidelines. Couple these issues with growing climate change concerns and poor infrastructure and the Indonesian government understood the necessity of moving the capital, and all of the foot traffic it demands, in order to alleviate some of the population pressures plaguing Jakarta.

Committee Overview

Meet the Director

Hanan (he/him) is a third year psychology and education science major minoring in Sociology and innovation. He was born in Puerto Rico but grew up in Miami before he enrolled into the University of Florida where he first experienced Model UN. He joined the club as a freshman and has since become one of the travel team's competitive crisis delegates. Hanan is thrilled to be running a contemporary committee pertaining to such a pertinent topic at GatorMUN. He was previously a staffer at SunMUN I in the Runaway Reactor committee and served as USG of Crisis Committees at GatorMUN XX. Outside of MUN, Hanan loves politics, sports, cooking, and reading. He is also an active member in Changemakers', where he facilitates open and honest dialogue surrounding contentious topics. He's excited to see the direction delegates take in choosing the future direction of Jakarta.

This leads us to July, 2024. The capital of Indonesia has just officially been moved to the Island of Borneo moving government operations away from Jakarta. However the vast majority of the city’s problems remain. Their infrastructure is still poor and unable to contain their current population, pollution runs rampant creating urgent health crises in several sectors of the city, and climate change continues to loom over as an existential threat to the coastal city. The responsibility now falls on to the members of the City Council to provide short-term relief to the citizens of the city, as well as a long-term plan to ensure Jakarta’s viability as a hospitable city for the foreseeable future. However, as for any major city and country, corruption sits idly out of sight ready to undermine anything and everything in its path. Delegates should keep this in mind while working with other members of the council as everyone have their own interests and motivations, some of which may not align with the common good of Jakarta. Will the Council be able to come together and direct Jakarta on to the right path? Or will internal strife and deceit lead to its downfall? The decision is yours delegates.