Lawmakers press for immediate realisation of food aid distribution
Jakarta (ANTARA) – Deputy Chair of Commission IV of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI), Alex Indra Lukman, has urged that the distribution of food aid in the form of rice and cooking oil to 33,244,408 beneficiary households (KPM) in February–March 2026 be realised as soon as possible.
‘The distribution for February–March 2026 is intended by President Prabowo to ease the burden on the millions of KPM registered as they face Ramadan and Eid. Now, Ramadan has ended and the Eid celebrations are over. The budget absorption for this has remained at zero per cent up to May 2026,’ Alex Indra Lukman said in Jakarta on Wednesday.
He questioned why this happened and what has prevented the planned scheme from being executed.
He said this had been conveyed in the Working Meeting (RDP) of Commission IV with the National Food Agency (Bapanas) with the agenda of discussing the results of the 2025 audit, the evaluation of the 2025 budget implementation and the progress of the 2026 budget, on Tuesday (19 May) afternoon.
He stated that the ongoing delay in distributing the rice and MinyaKita cooking oil, with total needs of 664,888 tonnes of rice and 132.9 million litres of MinyaKita, had contravened the main purpose of Bapanas, which is to maintain price stability and food distribution.
‘Now, food prices are surging. If the current justification is a war, okay, we accept it,’ he said.
‘But the important question now is: what is your plan to address the impacts of price volatility caused by this war?’ He added.
He said the anticipated measures are being questioned because there has been no concrete action from Bapanas to stabilise the prices of staple foods as they begin to rise.
In addition, Alex, who is also the Chair of the Working Committee on Land-Use Reallocation (Panja Alih Fungsi Lahan) of DPR Commission IV, asked Bapanas to intensify coordination with Perum Bulog, the state-owned enterprise charged with distributing the aid.
He urged Bapanas to immediately draft programmes to tackle the jump in staple-food prices and the technical distribution with Perum Bulog.
‘Please report to Commission IV immediately once the roadmap for addressing the price surge has been completed,’ he concluded.