Prabowo Promises No More Rubbish-Smelling Cities in Three Years
President Prabowo Subianto is confident that Indonesia’s waste problems will be resolved within the next two to three years. According to him, the issue can be addressed by utilising domestically produced waste processing technology.
Prabowo conveyed this during a briefing to the Merah Putih Cabinet members and institutional leaders at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday, 8 April 2026. On that occasion, the Head of State claimed that the government possesses a capable strategy and technology developed by the nation’s own people.
“Universities must now work, and they are already working. We now have technology to clean up waste, made by us ourselves, not too expensive compared to imports. In two to three years, we will resolve waste across all of Indonesia,” said Prabowo.
He is optimistic that there will be no more waste problems throughout Indonesia in the future. The General Chairman of the Gerindra Party promised that there will no longer be any rubbish smells in every corner of Indonesia’s streets.
“There will be no city, no road, no part of Indonesia that smells of rubbish from Sabang to Merauke,” said Prabowo.
Prabowo Subianto had previously instructed Merah Putih Cabinet ministers to accelerate waste management implementation in the regions. This step is part of the waste-to-energy programme, or processing waste into energy, currently being run by the Danantara Investment Management Agency.
The policy discussion took place in a limited meeting held at Prabowo’s private residence in Hambalang, Bogor, West Java, on Wednesday, 25 March 2026. The meeting was attended by the Head of Danantara, who is also the Minister of Investment, Rosan Perkasa Roeslani, and several other Merah Putih Cabinet ministers.
“Danantara Head Mr Rosan Roeslani reported on the progress of the waste-to-energy (WTE) programme, or waste management into energy, across Indonesia, particularly in densely populated major cities such as DKI Jakarta, Tangerang, Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya, Medan, Bali, and other cities in Indonesia,” said Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya in a written statement.
President Prabowo, according to Teddy, wants local-level waste to be promptly handled by the central government. “President Prabowo wants the Central Government to immediately manage the waste that has long been poorly handled in the regions, to clean it up, eliminate it, and utilise it to become energy, especially electricity,” said Teddy.