JAKARTA: The newly appointed National Nutrition Agency (BGN) head has pledged sweeping efficiency measures and a moratorium on new kitchens, signaling a major reset of President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free nutritious meal programme following a corruption scandal.
The agency will temporarily halt approvals for new nutrition fulfillment service units (SPPGs), the kitchens responsible for preparing meals under the programme, while reviewing spending and reassessing how many facilities are needed across regions, BGN head Nanik Sudaryati Deyang told a press conference on Thursday (June 4).
“The main thing we have discussed and prepared a work plan for is budget efficiency,” Nanik told reporters.
Nanik, previously the agency’s deputy head, replaced Dadan Hindayana after President Prabowo removed him and two deputies, Sony Sonjaya and Lodewyk Pusung, with prosecutors later detaining all three as suspects in a corruption probe tied to the programme.
Investigators have alleged that the three former officials approved ineligible foundations linked to agency insiders through manipulated verification processes and influenced procurement plans for goods, including electric motorcycles, shoes and televisions, that allegedly did not reflect operational needs and were overpriced, resulting in state losses.
The programme’s rollout has faced public scrutiny over food poisoning incidents, operational shortcomings and allegations of budget misuse, adding pressure on the government to tighten oversight and spending.
Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa reduced this year’s budget allocation for the programme to Rp 268 trillion (US$14.87 billion) in late May from Rp 335 trillion earmarked in the state budget and plans further cuts.
Government data show that realised spending for the program reached Rp 88 trillion in the first five months of the year, with more than 63 million beneficiaries.
Focus shifts to remote regions
The BGN has announced a shift in resources toward underserved frontier, outermost and least developed (3T) regions while pausing registrations for new kitchens in urban areas, where kitchen development has become heavily concentrated.
Prabowo had instructed the agency to prioritize those regions, Nanik said. More than 27,000 kitchens are already operating, but Nanik said many had become “inefficient” amid oversupply in some areas and with operators often using leased premises, driving up their costs.
“If kitchens are found to be operating inefficiently, of course we will suspend them,” Nanik said. “But we need to sort our operational kitchens out first.”
The agency will work with the Elementary and Secondary Education Ministry and Home Ministry to determine the ideal number of kitchens needed for each subdistrict before deciding whether to reopen registration, she added.
For 3T areas with a limited number of kitchens the BGN plans to “maximize” use of existing facilities, such as school canteens, community kitchens and public food facilities.
“In some 3T areas, there are only 200 people, 81 people, even 47 people,” Nanik said. “It’s impossible for us to build new kitchens there.”
The agency is also exploring partnerships with state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and private companies through corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes to expand services in remote areas without relying solely on state funds.
Nanik also signaled a shift in priorities away from the government’s target of reaching 82.9 million beneficiaries by the end of this year, saying the BGN would prioritise service quality, effectiveness and targeting accuracy over coverage.
“We have informed the President that this year we are not pursuing quantity, we will improve quality,” she said.
According to Health Ministry figures as of May, 37,673 recipients had suffered food poisoning across Indonesia since the program was launched in January last year.
The programme has also been flagged by antigraft watchdog Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) for alleged irregularities involving procurement costs and kitchen construction budgets in several provinces.
Programme reform
The leadership shake-up should be a turning point to strengthen oversight of the free meals programme, said Tjandra Yoga Aditama, director of the postgraduate programme at Yarsi University.
The agency should prioritise food safety through stricter kitchen compliance and random testing, regularly gather feedback from students and track recipients’ health and nutrition outcomes over time to measure the program’s impact, Tjandra said on Friday.
Authorities should also swiftly investigate any food poisoning cases to prevent repeat incidents and strengthen monitoring to adjust the program when problems emerge, he added.
Paramadina University rector and senior economist Didik J. Rachbini said this opportunity should be used to overhaul governance of the free meals programme, with the agency separating its regulatory and operational roles.
The shake-up offered an opportunity to redesign the programme so it would function not only as a food assistance scheme but also as a tool for human capital development and regional economic growth, Didik said.
Public criticism, he added, had focused largely on oversight and governance rather than the program’s objective.
“The BGN should focus on nutrition standards, operational guidelines, national data and evaluation. Meanwhile daily operations should be handled by regional governments, schools, cooperatives and local SMEs,” Didik said in a statement.
“Going forward, the state’s role through the BGN should be to provide direction, not to run everything itself,” he added.
At a free meals programme event in Bogor, West Java, on Wednesday, Prabowo reaffirmed his commitment to safeguarding the integrity and success of the programme, asserting there would be no tolerance for misconduct in its implementation.
“I don’t want the people’s money to be stolen, and there will be no exceptions,” the President said. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
