Indonesia Chooses Island for New Capital

Indonesia's president has announced that the country's capital will be moved from overcrowded, sinking, and polluted Jakarta to East Kalimantan province. President Joko Widodo told a news conference Monday the decision to choose the province on the Indonesian side of Borneo island, which is shared with Malaysia and Brunei, has gone through in-depth studies. He said the most ideal site for the new capital will be between Penajam Paser and Kutai Kertanegara districts, the AP reports. Indonesia's decades-long discussion about building a new capital on Borneo inched forward in April when Widodo approved a plan for it to move from Jakarta on Java, the world's most populous island. Jakarta is a sprawling metropolis of 10 million people, or three times that number when counting those living in its greater metropolitan area. (More Indonesia stories.)