Finance Minister Purbaya Deems Constitutional Challenge to Free Nutritious Meals Budget Weak: 'Certain to Lose'

Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has responded to the constitutional challenge filed at the Constitutional Court (MK) against the state budget law concerning the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme’s funding. Purbaya said he was not troubled by the legal action.

“Let it be, we’ll see what happens. A lawsuit can be lost or won, can’t it?” Purbaya said after a meeting with House of Representatives leaders at the parliamentary complex in Senayan, Jakarta, on Wednesday (18 February 2026).

Nevertheless, Purbaya expressed confidence that the challenge would fail, whilst deferring to the court’s eventual ruling.

“I think it’s weak, and if it’s weak, it will certainly lose. But we’ll see what happens,” he added.

Previously, the use of the education budget within the state budget (APBN) for the Free Nutritious Meals programme was once again challenged at the Constitutional Court. This time, the petition was filed by teachers and lecturers.

According to the Constitutional Court’s website, on Thursday (5 February 2026), the first petition was registered by a lecturer named Rega Felix under case number 52/PUU-XXIV/2026. He filed a challenge against Article 49 paragraph (1) and the Elucidation of Article 49 paragraph (1) of Law Number 20 of 2003 on the National Education System, as well as Article 22 paragraph (3) and the Elucidation of Article 22 paragraph (3) of Law Number 17 of 2025 on the 2026 State Budget.

In his petition, the applicant stated that his remuneration as a lecturer was extremely low, amounting to merely hundreds of thousands of rupiah. He argued that educators are at the forefront of advancing the nation’s intellectual life.

“Article 22 paragraphs (1) and (2) of the State Budget Law allocate an education budget of Rp769,086,869,324,000, which constitutes 20 per cent of the total state budget. Meanwhile, the budget for the national nutrition fulfilment programme through the National Nutrition Agency amounts to Rp255,580,233,304,000, of which, according to media reports, Rp223.5 trillion is allocated as education spending. Based on reasonable inference, this situation has considerable potential to impair the constitutional rights of lecturers to develop themselves through the fulfilment of their basic needs,” he stated.