How Palangka Raya is Organising the City with the 'KEREN' Vision
Despite being one of the largest cities in Indonesia, Palangka Raya is undergoing optimal urban development. Through the ‘KEREN’ vision championed by Mayor Fairid Naparin—an acronym for Collaborative, Advanced Economy, Religious, Energetic, and Comfortable—various integrated development programmes continue to be implemented.
This vision has led Palangka Raya to become the ‘overall champion’ in the 2026 Regional Kalimantan Outstanding Local Government Appreciation, organised by the Ministry of Home Affairs. In this awards ceremony, Palangka Raya successfully secured awards in three out of the four competing categories: Poverty and Stunting Reduction, Unemployment Reduction, and Creative Financing/Entrepreneur Government.
Mayor Fairid Naparin expressed his gratitude for the achievements. “What we have achieved is the result of comprehensive pentahelix cooperation, from upstream to downstream,” he stated, noting that this spans from planning and asset utilisation to human resource development.
He believes that a holistic approach is essential, particularly in addressing stunting, which cannot be tackled in isolation. Fairid explained that stunting issues involve not only child nutrition but also environmental conditions, hygiene, access to clean water, housing, and family income and welfare.
“Our KEREN vision is circular. In handling stunting, we do not only focus on the child but also their environment, cleanliness, clean water, housing, and the economic condition and income of their families. We take this very seriously,” said Fairting.
Consequently, as stunting prevention became a priority programme under President Prabowo’s administration, Palangka Raya had already implemented a foster parent programme. Echelon III officials are involved in monitoring stunting monthly, collaborating with Posyandu (integrated healthcare centre) officers and the PKK (Family Welfare Movement) through a door-to-door approach to directly understand the conditions of children, families, and their environments.
To reduce poverty and unemployment rates, the Palangka Raya City Government is running various collaborative programmes, such as the empowerment of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), labour training, and cheap food movements. Mayor Fairid emphasised that the local government’s primary focus is to increase income and reduce the public’s expenditure burden.
In an effort to increase regional revenue, Fairid is evaluating the Regional Budget (APBD) to identify sectors with potential for third-party partnerships. “For example, we are currently implementing Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) for Public Street Lighting (PJU), which carries a significant annual cost,” he said. This allows budgets previously allocated for routine needs to be redirected to other activities.
Fairid hopes that these various awards will serve as motivation for all ranks of the Palangka Raya City Government to continue delivering programmes and policies that have a greater impact on the community.