Komnas HAM urges technical oversight to strengthen MBG programme quality
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) is pushing for strengthened oversight of the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme down to the technical field level to bolster the quality, food safety, and sustainability of this government initiative.
Coordinator of the Komnas HAM Subcommission on Human Rights Enforcement, Pramono Ubaid Tanthowi, stressed that oversight must extend beyond administrative measures to encompass all operational processes.
“Oversight must reach the technical field level, from food production to distribution to schools,” he said after a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) on fulfilling children’s rights, the right to food, the right to health, and the right to safety in the governance and delivery of the MBG programme in Jakarta on Wednesday.
He assessed that the large scale of MBG demands a stringent control system to keep the programme’s benefits optimal and risks minimised from the outset.
“Because this programme is very large, it must be ensured with ‘zero tolerance’ towards negative impacts, both short-term such as poisoning and long-term,” he stated.
Nevertheless, Pramono emphasised that the MBG programme retains strategic value and should continue with ongoing improvements, rather than being halted.
In the context of oversight, Komnas HAM is encouraging the involvement of various institutions to enhance accountability, both from within the government and externally.
“Therefore, involvement of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP), inspectorates, and even independent supervisors is needed,” he said.
Additionally, oversight should be supported by public participation as part of transparency and social control over the programme.
“We want to see the governance of the MBG programme from upstream to downstream,” he added.
Komnas HAM has assured that it will prepare recommendations based on studies to support the refinement of MBG implementation, particularly in technical aspects, health, and governance, so that its benefits are increasingly on target and sustainable.
The discussion featured Dr dr Tan Shot Yen MHUM, a public doctor and nutrition expert from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Indonesia (FKUI), as well as Media Wahyudi Askar PhD, Director of Public Policy and Founder of the Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS).