January 6, 2026 | 09:33 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto claimed the success rate of the free nutritious meal (MBG) program has reached 99 percent, according to evaluation results. "Short of 0.00-something [percent]," the head of state said as quoted from the Cabinet Secretariat's website on Tuesday, January 6, 2026.
"We were able to overcome that shortcoming, and continue to do so," he added.
Prabowo made the statement in front of his ministers during the Red and White Cabinet retreat at his private residence in Hambalang, Bogor, West Java, today. Prabowo said he's not turning a blind eye to shortcomings and potential deviations in MBG implementation, and pledged that the government will intervene and oversee the flagship program.
The head of state said free meal beneficiaries today have reached 55 million people, including school children and pregnant people, calling it a remarkable achievement.
During the briefing, Prabowo underscored the free nutritious meal's importance as a strategic program based on state concern over Indonesian children's nutritional intake. Moreover, according to Prabowo, several studies have shown that over 20 to 30 percent of children in the country are malnourished.
Prabowo also mentioned tens of millions of children who forgo breakfast before school. "Many of them only eat rice with leaves," he said.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Education Monitoring Network (JPPI) reported that over 20,000 victims of free meal-related food poisoning as of Decemner 23, 2025.
JPPI also assessed that the free nutritious meal program has posed new problems in schools, including alleged fund embezzlement to extortion practices leading to a corrupt culture in the education environment. JPPI found that some schools asked for Rp1,000 per portion for the public kitchens if they wanted to implement the MBG program at the school.
The head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), Dadan Hindayana, said that JPPI's findings should be accompanied by complete data to allow for follow-up. "It's better to provide detailed information so that we can cross-check. How can we check if it's still ambiguous?" said Dadan when asked for confirmation on Wednesday, December 31, 2025.
Dinda Shabrina contributed to the writing of this article
Read: Prabowo Urges Cabinet Members to Take Initiative, Not Wait for Orders
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