JPPI Claims Removal of National Nutrition Agency Head Fails to Address Free Nutritious Meal Issues

The Indonesian Education Monitoring Network (JPPI) believes that the dismissal of three leaders of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) by President Prabowo Subianto will not resolve the fundamental issues regarding the implementation of the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme. JPPI stated that the move only addresses individual personnel issues, while problems regarding governance and programme design remain untouched.

JPPI National Coordinator Ubaid Matraji stated that the replacement of BGN leadership following searches by law enforcement agencies is more of an attempt at damage control to protect the image of the government’s flagship programme. “President Prabowo’s swift action to dismiss the three individuals is an effort at damage control so that the epicentre of this corruption case does not directly tarnish the image of the MBG programme, which is the President’s primary legacy programme,” Ubaid said in a written statement on Wednesday, 3 June 2026.

However, he noted that changing leadership will not solve the more fundamental problems. “Changing leaders will not solve the problem; instead, it has the potential to cause the MBG programme to sink before it even fully sets sail,” he added.

JPPI assesses that the first issue lies in the programme’s design, which has been deemed problematic from the start. According to Uba ent, public criticism of the MBG is not solely directed at the BGN leadership figures, but at a programme design that manages a massive budget with a monitoring system considered to be weak. He noted that the emergence of alleged corruption cases involving agency leaders has strengthened public concerns regarding the potential misuse of funds within the programme.

Furthermore, JPPI highlighted the impact of the legal cases against BGN leaders on public trust. According to Ubaid, the searches conducted by law enforcement agencies could trigger a crisis of legitimacy at the grassroots level. “How can the public, schools, and local partners trust a programme providing meals for schoolchildren if the regulating agency itself has been searched by law enforcement due to allegations of corruption? This legitimacy crisis will make field implementation fraught with suspicion,” he said.

JPPI also criticised the government’s budgetary policy, which is seen as being overly focused on the MBG. The organisation believes the programme’s budget allocation has the potential to shift funding priorities away from other public sectors, including education and health. Ubaid stated that the 20 per cent education budget allocation from the State Budget (APBN) is increasingly being distorted by the funding requirements of the MBG. This condition, he said, impacts teacher welfare and the improvement of educational facilities that still require attention.

“For JPPI, these dismissals and searches are a harsh blow to the government’s grand ambitions. The step of firing old officials does not automatically resolve fundamental governance issues,” he remarked.

JPPI subsequently proposed three recommendations to the government. First, to conduct a total evaluation of the MBG programme design by changing the approach for beneficiaries to be more targeted towards groups experiencing nutritional problems and limited food access. Second, to open the governance of BGN procurement and budget distribution to the public with transparency while strengthening anti-corruption prevention systems. Third, to correct budgetary policies so that allocations for education and health are not eroded by the funding needs of the MBG programme.

“As long as the government only focuses on replacing people without daring to re-evaluate budget design, institutional transparency, and the impact of displacing budgets from other public sectors, then the BGN will merely become a new stage for future scandals,” concluded Ubaid.