House Commission XIII: Statement that MBG Violates Human Rights is Inaccurate!

The Deputy Chairman of Commission XIII of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI), Sugiat Santoso, has responded to a statement by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) which indicated potential human rights violations in the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme. He considers the statement to be inappropriate. According to him, MBG is a tangible form of fulfilling the basic rights of the community, which are part of human rights, particularly economic and social rights. “The statement by Komnas HAM that human rights violations have occurred in the implementation of the MBG programme is contradictory when viewed from a human rights perspective,” Sugiat said in a statement on Wednesday, 17 June 2026. Sugiat explained that the MBG programme is a concrete manifestation of fulfilling human rights, encompassing the right to adequate food, the right to be free from hunger, the right to improve one’s standard of living, the right to fulfilment of basic needs, the right to grow and develop properly, and the right to an improved quality of life. He argued that the fulfilment of the right to food and the right to be free from hunger cannot be optimally realised without state involvement. Therefore, he considers it inappropriate to directly conclude that the implementation of the MBG programme constitutes a human rights violation. While he does not deny that the implementation of MBG still has a number of shortcomings that need to be addressed, he stressed that governance issues and irregularities in implementation cannot automatically be categorised as human rights violations. “The fact that the governance of the MBG programme is still not perfect, that there are irregularities, and that it needs improvement, does not make it appropriate to conclude that a human rights violation has occurred,” he said. According to him, an assessment regarding human rights violations should be carried out through a monitoring function involving a thorough investigation and examination of an event. “Programmes like MBG in various countries represent the state’s obligation to strive for the fulfilment of the right to food for its citizens, and certainly do not constitute human rights violations,” Sugiat concluded.