Fadli Zon: MBG Is a Service Programme, the Corruption Is What's Wrong

Minister of Culture Fadli Zon has spoken openly about the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme, stating it was originally intended as a service. The Deputy Chairman of the Gerindra Party initially conveyed that the MBG programme had been envisioned by President Prabowo Subianto since 2004. He said the programme is fundamentally good. “Regarding MBG, I think the principle is that this MBG programme is very good and has been, even Pak Prabowo once said it should have been in 2004. I remember clearly he, as Chairman of HKTI, mentioned milk, a ‘White Revolution’ like the one carried out in India is important, and that includes this Free Nutritious Meal,” Fadli Zon said during a discussion with journalists at the Ministry of Culture office in Jakarta on Wednesday (17/6/2026). Fadli said the MBG programme was initially intended as a service to the public. He noted that at the beginning, it was difficult to get the programme moving. “Actually, this programme is a service programme, a public service for free nutritious meals. At the start, no one even wanted to join, it was very difficult to get it moving,” he stated. He said people only became interested in participating once the financing scheme was explained. However, many then joined solely to seek profit. “But once the scheme was running, people competed to join. At that point, their thinking was no longer about serving, but about how to seek profit, to make money. Whereas the intent of this programme is service. There is profit, but it is limited, it cannot exceed a certain amount, something like that,” he explained. He then touched on the corruption case involving the head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN). He said opportunity creates a thief. “But what is wrong is the corruption. What is wrong is if it is corrupted. Now, with the various incidents that have occurred, I think there needs to be introspection, and I believe the new leadership of MBG has already introspected on what happened. Because, you know, there is a saying that ‘opportunity makes a thief’, opportunity can turn someone into a thief because this is something new,” he clarified. He also denied that MBG was implemented for electoral purposes. According to him, all parties, both political and non-political, are involved. “So with this Free Nutritious Meal, if people say it’s an electoral issue, where is the election? Some say, from ICW or wherever, that this is an electoral issue. Oh, everyone can participate, anyone, whether from a political party or non-party, it’s possible,” he said.