Indonesia’s Mega Infrastructure Projects Drive Hidden Loss of Bugis-Makassar Cultural and Social Capital

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FORMOSA NEWS

Infrastructure expansion under Indonesia's National Strategic Projects (PSN) in Makassar City is quietly eroding the socio-cultural capital, maritime traditions, and social networks of the indigenous Bugis-Makassar community. A sociological study conducted by researchers Nurmi Nonci, Harifuddin, Andi Burchanuddin, and Ahmad Muhajir from Universitas Bosowa, published in the May 2026 issue of Jurnal Multidisplin Madani (MUDIMA), reveals that large-scale physical developments structurally exploit local social systems without offering recognition, compensation, or long-term renewal. The findings highlight an urgent need to re-evaluate top-down urban development paradigms that prioritize short-term physical growth over long-term cultural sustainability.

Background and Policy Context

Between 2020 and 2025, Makassar City underwent significant spatial restructuring driven by priority state initiatives, most notably the development of Makassar New Port and the expansion of the Makassar Industrial Area (KIMA) under Presidential Regulation No. 109 of 2020. While Makassar New Port secured over IDR 3 trillion in investment to transform the city into a global logistics hub for Eastern Indonesia, these rapid developments altered long-standing coastal spaces. Historically, coastal areas served as the geographic foundation for the Bugis-Makassar community's identity, maritime trade networks, local ecological knowledge, and the foundational cultural philosophy of siri' na pacce (dignity and communal empathy). Current national asset valuation guidelines measure only the market value of physical land and buildings, leaving community networks and cultural heritage uncompensated during land acquisition.

Research Methodology

The research team at Universitas Bosowa employed a qualitative analytical design using a systematic literature review and policy document analysis covering project implementation from 2020 to 2025. The authors analyzed core policy frameworks, including Presidential Regulation No. 109 of 2020, the 2020–2024 National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN), and official regional development evaluation reports from Bappenas. To evaluate social system disruptions, the authors integrated three sociological frameworks: David Harvey's accumulation by dispossession theory, Pierre Bourdieu's concept of social capital, and Talcott Parsons' AGIL (Adaptation, Goal Attainment, Integration, Latency) social system model.

Key Findings

The study identifies a pattern where mega-infrastructure projects rely on local community resilience to absorb social disruption while simultaneously dismantling the environment that sustains that resilience:

• Direct Exploitation of Maritime History: Strategic projects benefit from centuries of Bugis-Makassar seafaring reputation and trade routing without reinvesting budget allocations into local cultural preservation.
• Social Capital as an Unfunded Buffer: In the absence of formal state socio-cultural protections, traditional kinship solidarity and gotong royong (mutual assistance) are forced to act as informal safety nets for displaced families.
• Policy and Valuation Gaps: National project budgets contain zero explicit allocations for socio-cultural capital preservation or community-based identity programs.
• Five Structural System Failures: The authors classify the societal impact into policy failure (lack of protective laws), valuation failure (ignoring non-market cultural assets), participation failure (top-down consultation processes), institutional failure (agencies acting as investment facilitators rather than community advocates), and sustainability failure (lack of post-construction social recovery plans).

Implications and Real-World Impact

The study provides important insights for urban planners, national policymakers, and international development agencies. When infrastructure planning fails to account for socio-cultural assets, rapid urban transformation risks turning thriving coastal populations into marginalized communities. To address these challenges, the authors advocate for mandatory Social and Cultural Impact Assessments (SCIA) with equal legal standing to environmental impact assessments (AMDAL) for all National Strategic Projects. Implementing formal benefit-sharing mechanisms would allow project revenues to directly fund community empowerment and cultural preservation, ensuring economic development does not destroy local identity.

"The main cause of this problem is not the bad intentions of PSN planners, but rather a development paradigm that structurally separates economic development from socio-cultural development. As a result, the social capital of the traditional Bugis-Makassar maritime community, the philosophy of siri' na pacce, and communal solidarity networks are exploited as a foundation and buffer for project impacts without ever being recognized, compensated, or renewed."

— Nurmi Nonci, Universitas Bosowa

Author Profile

Nurmi Nonci is a sociologist and academic researcher at Universitas Bosowa in Makassar, Indonesia. Her expertise covers development sociology, cultural sustainability, social capital transformation, and the socio-economic impacts of national infrastructure projects on indigenous and coastal communities.

Source Information

Article Title: When Concrete Buries Roots: National Strategic Projects and the Quiet Destruction of Bugis-Makassar Social Capital
Journal Name: Jurnal Multidisplin Madani (MUDIMA)
Publication Year: 2026
DOI : https://doi.org/10.55927/mudima.v6i8.117

URL :https://journalmudima.my.id/index.php/mudima