This article focuses on the political movement to establish the new province of Gorontalo, which was created by separation from North Sulawesi province in 2000. Establishing new autonomous regions is clearly a characteristic of the identity politics that has become so influential after the fall of the authoritarian Suharto regime, and the number of autonomous regions has increased quite rapidly. Usually, established local elites are the central figures in such movements. In the case of Gorontalo province, however, youth were the main players in the movement and they have been politically influential since the establishment of the new province. This has led to the birth of an entrepreneurial government that is quite foreign to the Gorontalo area.
