Budiman Sudjatmiko: Free Nutritious Meal Programme Must Continue Despite Legal Issues
Semarang (ANTARA) - The Head of the Poverty Alleviation Acceleration Agency (BP Taskin), Budiman Sudjatmiko, believes that the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme must continue, despite legal issues involving the former leadership of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN).
“It is a campaign promise. If it stops, then the President will have broken a promise and violated the law,” he stated in Semarang on Friday.
He made these remarks after attending a dialogue themed “Critical Towards Golden Indonesia or Anxious? Reading Government Performance and the Future Direction of Indonesia” at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences (FIB), Diponegoro University, Semarang.
According to him, halting the MBG programme would not only violate the law but also contradict the campaign promise to improve the nutrition of school children championed by Prabowo.
On the other hand, he acknowledged that the implementation of the MBG programme deserves rigorous criticism, but argued that such criticism should focus on improving management within each region.
He emphasised that the MBG programme is necessary, given that some communities in rural areas still suffer from malnutrition and are facing an era of change that leaves them lagging behind other nations.
“I say our society is a malnourished society. Our society is facing a new era, and compared to other countries, we are still lagging behind,” he said.
He noted that the Indonesian people still lag in terms of analogical thinking, reading literacy, mathematics, and science.
“Therefore, the MB_G is not only for school children but also for pregnant women. That is the intervention,” said the former activist and Chairperson of the People’s Democratic Party (PRD).
Responding to student criticisms that the MBG programme and the Red and White Cooperative are not pro-people, he disagreed.
He argued that the MBG and the Village Cooperatives (Kopdes) are two priority programmes of President Prabowo Subianto that embody the values of social justice.
He cited a visit to Sentolo Village, Kulonprogo, Special Region of Yogyakarta, where the MBG programme has been implemented, noting how school children ate the meals as if they were a luxury.
“Yesterday I went to Sentolo, Kulonprogo; village children were eating luxurious food in the valley. When we were in primary school, we never ate as luxuriously as that,” he said.