Megawati meets Anwar in Malaysia to discuss Nusantara capital

KUALA LUMPUR: Former Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri met with Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in Putrajaya, Malaysia, on Tuesday afternoon, to discuss the development of Indonesia's Nusantara capital city project in East Kalimantan, reported ANTARA news agency.

In a statement, Megawati mentioned that she talked about Nusantara with Anwar considering that Malaysia earlier shifted the federal government's seat to Putrajaya.

"Malaysia did it first when the transfer (of administrative capital) was carried out from Kuala Lumpur to Putrajaya," she said.

Megawati's daughter, Puan Maharani, who was also present at the meeting, asked Anwar about the process of transferring the Malaysian administrative capital to Putrajaya.

According to Megawati, Anwar stated that Indonesia's capital transfer from Jakarta to Nusantara will be more complex.

"He also mentioned that, given the existing condition of Nusantara, it will take longer than the transition to Putrajaya," she informed.

Megawati and Puan Maharani --the Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives-- were received by Anwar and his wife Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail at their official residence.

The meeting, which was also attended by Megawati's first son, M. Rizki Pratama, and Maharani's husband, Hapsoro Sukmonohadi, took place at around 1 pm local time.

Megawati was in Malaysia for two days to receive an honorary doctorate in social sciences from the Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) in Selangor on Monday.

Before meeting Anwar, she also met had a conversation with former Malaysian PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. The two discussed various matters, including the dry weather.

--BERNAMA-ANTARA