JAKARTA: Calls are growing to suspend and review President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free nutritious meal programme amid mounting concerns about persistent implementation problems, even as the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), under new leadership, moves to improve oversight.
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) recently flagged a number of shortcomings in the programme, including ineffective implementation, a lack of transparency, recurring food poisoning incidents and weak emergency response mechanisms.
“Komnas HAM has found strong indications of human rights violations in the implementation of the free nutritious meal programme,” commissioner Pramono Ubaid Tanthowi said in a statement on Monday (June 15), citing alleged violations of children's rights as well as the public rights to health, food, information and remedies for victims of food poisoning.
The commission warned that the programme's broad rollout, aimed at fighting malnutrition and which had reached 61 million students and pregnant women nationwide by March, risks missing its intended targets. It argued the initiative would be more effective if focused on vulnerable groups in remote and underserved regions.
Komnas HAM called for a comprehensive evaluation and stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure the programme is “not solely focused on expanding the number of recipients, but also ensuring nutritional needs are met.”
The call came amid growing protests since last week, when university students across the country staged rallies demanding that the government halt the programme.
Since its launch last year, the program has faced persistent criticism over thousands of food poisoning cases, operational shortcomings and alleged procurement irregularities.
Concerns intensified after three former BGN leaders were removed from their posts and later named corruption suspects.
Pressure has also mounted through seven petitions before the Constitutional Court, with teachers, civil society groups and students arguing that the Rp 335 trillion (US$18.86 billion) allocated to the programe in the 2026 state budget violates the Constitution by partly drawing from education funds.
In an emotional testimony during the latest hearing on Monday, a teacher told the court that many educators remain poorly paid despite the constitutional mandate requiring that 20 per cent of the state budget be allocated to education, in part to improve teacher welfare.
Edy Kurniawan Wahid, a lawyer from the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) representing the petitioners, said the hearings had shown that the programme was “further undermining and damaging the education system”.
“Since the legal basis for the program is being challenged, its implementation should be halted, at least until the court issues a ruling,” he said on
Separately, Muhammad Busyro Muqoddas of Islamic organisation Muhammadiyah, who joined a coalition of civil society groups in filing one of the petitions, argued that the programe had caused more harm than good.
“The program shows strong indications of a lack of transparency. [...] At the very least, the free nutritious meal programme should be temporarily suspended and evaluated. That alone would be a good start,” he said on Tuesday
The government, however, insisted the programme would continue, with Government Communications Agency (GCA) head Muhammad Qodari saying on Wednesday that “it would be a big mistake” to demand the suspension of the programme because it was one of Prabowo’s campaign promises.
Meanwhile, the BGN under newly appointed Nanik Sudaryati Deyang plans to audit all nutrition fulfillment service unit (SPPG) kitchens that prepare the meals during the upcoming school break from mid-June to mid-July.
“We will use this holiday period to suspend operations and audit all kitchens, so hopefully when children return to school, the conditions on the ground will be better and more orderly,” BGN deputy head Agustina Arumsari said on Monday in Jakarta, as quoted by Antara.
She said the audit would also focus on improving beneficiary data, enabling the agency to redesign incentive schemes and better align distribution with the number of beneficiaries served by each SPPG.
The current scheme provides a flat Rp 6 million incentive per kitchen regardless of the number of beneficiaries. The agency is also considering consolidating some catering units as part of an effort to “refocus the programme” on children that most need nutritional intervention.
“We will evaluate not only how much output is produced but also whether food quality is maintained and safety standards are met,” she added.
Since taking office, the new leadership has pledged to strengthen accountability and imposed a moratorium on new SPPG designations while reviewing around 27,000 existing facilities nationwide. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
