House Commission IX to Form Working Committee on Free Nutritious Meals Governance, Focus on Roadmap Revision

The House of Representatives’ Commission IX will form a working committee (Panja) to address the governance of the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme. The committee’s primary focus will be on revising the programme’s roadmap and reassessing the number of beneficiaries.

Commission IX Deputy Chairman Charles Honoris announced the plan during a hearing with MBG Watch at the Parliament Complex in Senayan, Jakarta, on Thursday. He stated that the working committee was necessary to improve the programme’s management. “We have not yet seen a clear roadmap for the implementation of this programme,” Charles said. “We hope that through this working committee, we can discuss this in a much more specific and comprehensive manner, producing not only recommendations for the government but also a roadmap for how this programme should be executed.”

Charles also noted that the committee would seek clarity on the exact number of beneficiaries. He argued that if the programme’s goal is to improve child nutrition and reduce stunting, it should not necessarily cover all children. He cited data suggesting that focusing on 26 million children would be sufficient, requiring a budget of around IDR 60 trillion, significantly less than the programme’s current revised budget of IDR 258 trillion.

This view was supported by Media Wahyudi Askar, Director of Public Policy at CELIOS, who presented data indicating that if the programme targeted only the poor, those in underdeveloped regions, pregnant women, and toddlers, the number of beneficiaries would be 26 million. He estimated that such a focused approach would cost only IDR 67 trillion annually, or could be implemented in stages starting with IDR 10 trillion.

The move follows a directive from President Prabowo Subianto, who has asked the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) to carefully review all policies related to the MBG programme. BGN Deputy Chairman Agustina Arumsari confirmed that the President wants decisions, such as excluding children from higher economic deciles, to be thoroughly studied to avoid negative psychological impacts on students. The President has given the agency one month to conduct this review.