Prabowo Plans Rp20 Billion Prize for Five Cleanest Cities, Here's Why
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – President Prabowo Subianto plans to hold a cleanliness competition between regions, with incentives of up to Rp20 billion. He directly requested the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, and the Minister of State Secretary, Prasetyo Hadi, to prepare this and coordinate with the Minister of Finance, Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa.
He made the announcement while attending a mass ceremony for 62,000 subsidised mortgage (KPR) units and the disbursement of Rp880 billion in housing people’s business credit (KUR) in Batang Regency, Central Java, on Thursday (30/7/2026).
“Is the Economy Minister here? The State Secretary? Coordinate with the Finance Minister. Let’s create a cleanest city competition! The cleanest cities 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Do we need a dirtiest city category?” said Prabowo.
He then proposed that the cleanest cities be given incentives worth Rp20 billion.
“For the cleanest city, if possible we can give Rp20 billion for the five cleanest cities. The five cities below them get Rp10 billion, and so on,” said Prabowo.
“It’s better to give that rather than a trophy — or a trophy too, raw ones, of course,” he joked.
Prabowo expressed confidence that the incentive money would be used for beneficial purposes, such as providing trucks and excavators.
On that occasion, the head of state also asked the TNI commander to check the availability of heavy equipment produced by PT Pindad that could be distributed to regency and city governments to support waste management.
Earlier, Prabowo had set a target for Indonesia’s waste problem to be resolved by the end of 2027. He even demanded that there be no more mountains of rubbish in various regions as part of the Safe, Healthy, Clean, and Beautiful (ASRI) programme.
At the same event, Prabowo also asked regional leaders — governors, regents, and mayors — as well as security officials such as Regional Military Commanders (Pangdam), Regional Police Chiefs (Kapolda), Resort Military Commanders (Danrem), District Military Commanders (Dandim), Resort Police Chiefs (Kapolres), and Sector Police Chiefs (Kapolsek) to check rivers and the environment every day.
“I’m not asking for five hours every day. At minimum, one hour a day going around. Leaders must be at the front and alongside the people,” he said.
He asked these officials to also reprimand households that are poorly maintained, dirty environments, and neglected shopping areas.
“If they are reprimanded repeatedly and refuse to change, call in the joint team from the Attorney General’s Office and the National Police to work together,” said Prabowo.
He also asked neighbourhood unit (RT) heads, community unit (RW) heads, cooperative chairs, mosque chairs, community group leaders, and civil servants and state-owned enterprise employees to take turns cleaning the environment for one hour.