Following Prabowo's Direction, Eddy Soeparno Supports University Involvement in Tackling Waste Crisis
President Prabowo Subianto has reiterated his commitment to addressing the waste problem. In his remarks at the Indonesia Economic Outlook event, Prabowo said educational institutions have developed various breakthrough waste destruction technologies. According to him, these devices can be used to handle waste on a small scale.
Deputy Chairman of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) from the National Mandate Party (PAN) faction, Eddy Soeparno, expressed his support for Prabowo’s move to involve educational institutions in tackling the waste problem. He argued that university involvement is crucial because the recommendations produced are scientific and based on data from in-depth research.
“We support President Prabowo’s initiative to involve universities in addressing the waste crisis. This is an important breakthrough integrating research and public policy. The waste problem must be resolved as quickly as possible so it does not become a crisis that increasingly harms the public,” Eddy said in a statement on Monday (16/2/2026).
Furthermore, Eddy revealed that during the MPR Goes to Campus programme held at 40 universities across Indonesia, he received numerous inputs and recommendations from campuses on resolving environmental problems, particularly waste.
“Over more than a year of dialogue with students, professors and the academic community at 40 universities, there have been many research-based recommendations and solutions provided by campuses to address the waste problem,” he said.
“On one hand, the government receives important recommendations from universities regarding waste processing down to the sub-district level. On the other hand, universities are also carrying out research downstream activities so that research findings can be applied in the policy sphere with greater benefit,” he continued.
Eddy also stated his readiness to serve as a facilitator bridging university research findings and recommendations with policies to be implemented by the government.
In particular, the PAN Deputy Chairman expressed his confidence in Prabowo’s issuance of Presidential Regulation Number 109 of 2025 on waste-to-energy (WTE) processing. According to him, this regulation will be a breakthrough that significantly addresses the waste problem.
“We hope President Prabowo’s strong commitment to the waste issue will be accompanied by aligned policies from relevant officials at both the central and regional levels so that waste problems can be properly resolved and managed,” he concluded.