Hasto Wardoyo intervenes to remove billboards with his picture, Yogyakarta City Government Affirms Visual Order

KabarJawa.com – The Yogyakarta City Government has begun taking steps to control the city’s visual space from billboards that are considered irrelevant.

On Sunday (23/11/2025), the Mayor of Yogyakarta, Hasto Wardoyo, directly took the lead in removing the billboard containing his photo in front of the Danurejan II Health Center.

This enforcement is confirmation that the government’s public communications need to re-emphasize service messages and information, not official figures.

Hasto intervenes to remove billboards at a number of points

Since morning, Hasto has been seen wearing a field cap and gloves while standing under a large billboard displaying his photo.

With brief instructions to the officers, he led the removal of the billboard until the pieces of material were folded and loaded into the transport truck.

“Just clean my photos, the important thing is the message. If it’s just visual trash, what’s the point? It’s better to replace it with education to prevent stunting or public service information that can be accessed by the public,” said Hasto during the control process.

He said there were seven billboards with pictures of him and the Deputy Mayor that were still displayed. Everything is targeted to be cleaned up within a few days.

Public Messages Need to Dominate City Space

Hasto explained that displaying photos of officials in the context of holiday greetings was still normal. However, excessive use of photos actually disrupts the aesthetics of the city and distracts attention from important messages.

“The face of the city must emit useful messages, not just big photos of officials. We must return the visual space of the city to the people,” he said.

This demolition action is said to be part of the initial stages of “land clearing” to tidy up the city before substantial development is carried out.

He said the next development agenda would focus on increasing tourism, amenities and access integration, which requires collaboration between the community, creative economy players and investors.

Hasto also asked the creative economy community to prepare ideas and compile a calendar of activities for the City of Yogyakarta 2026.

According to him, a number of areas, including Kotagede, have strong potential to be developed in the tourism and cultural agenda.

Creative Economy Support: Focus on Work and Impact

Chairman of the Yogyakarta City Creative Economy Committee, M. Arief Budiman, views the City Government’s steps as a signal of a change in the direction of government communication which focuses on the work and impact of policies.

“The calendar of events gives a message to tourists and investors that next year is already in order. The problem with events without a calendar is that promotion is ineffective, the audience is small, even though the costs are large,” he said.

Arief said that events such as Art Jog and JAFF consistently attract tourists because they have a fixed agenda every year.

Preparing a regular activity calendar is considered capable of maintaining hotel occupancy and economic stability, including in non-peak months.

“This synergy between the government, community, business actors and other stakeholders is what strengthens Yogyakarta’s creative economic ecosystem,” he added.

New Commitment to Organizing the City’s Visual Space

This action, which was led directly by the Mayor Hasto Wardoyo, became a symbol of restructuring the face of the City of Yogyakarta.

Controlling official billboards is said to be the first step towards a city space that is cleaner, more informative and supports the needs of the community.

“By focusing on public messages, improving the quality of events, and creative economic collaboration, Yogyakarta is starting to assert itself as a city that is not only culturally friendly, but also visually orderly and innovative in building the future,” said Arief.