<![CDATA[he relocation of Indonesia's national capital from Jakarta to Nusantara Capital City (Ibu Kota Nusantara/IKN) under Law No. 3 of 2022, as amended by Law No. 21 of 2023, raises fundamental constitutional problems regarding its institutional design. IKN is designated a "special" provincial-level regional government headed by an Authority (Otorita) whose leader is appointed directly by the President, without a Regional People's Representative Council (DPRD) or regional elections (pilkada), raising questions about its compatibility with the regional autonomy principle under Article 18 of the 1945 Constitution. This study employs normative legal research through statutory, conceptual, and comparative approaches, examining Indonesian legislation alongside Malaysia's Federal Territory of Putrajaya Act 1995, which similarly established an administrative center exempted from standard local democratic mechanisms while Kuala Lumpur retained its status as constitutional capital. The analysis finds that IKN's Otorita model satisfies Article 18 paragraphs (1) and (2) but fails paragraphs (3) and (4), rendering it a sui generis entity closer to a centralized administrative territory than a genuine autonomous region—a deviation with graver constitutional consequences than in Putrajaya's federal context, where national representation remains preserved through Kuala Lumpur. The study proposes reconceptualizing IKN as a Special Capital Region Province bound by constitutional autonomy principles, establishing proportional popular representation during the transition period, and adopting technology-based public participation modeled on Putrajaya's e-participation practices. These findings offer a comparative constitutional law perspective addressing a gap left unexamined by prior IKN- and Putrajaya-focused literature.]]>
