Misbakhun states free nutritious meals programme does not cut education infrastructure budget

Jakarta — The Head of Commission XI of the People’s Consultative Assembly, Mukhamad Misbakhun, has firmly stated that the free nutritious meals programme (MBG) does not reduce education infrastructure spending in the national budget.

According to his statement in Jakarta on Monday, the debate pitting MBG against educational infrastructure development requires clarification.

Education budget allocation in the national budget increases annually due to a constitutional mandate that sets a minimum of 20 per cent of total state expenditure for the education sector. As the overall national budget grows year on year, the nominal education allocation also rises accordingly.

For this reason, Misbakhun contends that it is inaccurate to characterise the strategy of allocating a portion of the education budget to support MBG as a reduction in commitment to educational infrastructure development.

“It is excessive and disproportionate to pit the strategy of allocating a portion of the education budget to MBG against educational infrastructure development that remains lagging in several regions. This is because the government has never reduced the allocation of education infrastructure spending; on the contrary, it has been strengthened by the initiation of people’s schools in many areas,” he said.

Misbakhun explained that this year the MBG programme has begun operating smoothly in various regions that have activated nutrition service provision units (SPPG).

Beneficiaries, particularly children and school students, have already directly experienced the programme’s presence.

MBG targets nearly 84 million beneficiaries, with the majority being school-age children.

In this context, the government applies a cross-cutting policy approach to budgeting. This means that the allocation of budget functions is carried out in accordance with beneficiaries and programme objectives.

“Thus, a strategy is employed to divide budget functions according to beneficiaries in order to strengthen budget function in relation to follow the programme—meaning the budget follows function and programme role—because its function is to strengthen nutrition for Indonesian children, most of whom are school-age children,” he explained.

This strategy, according to him, is part of budget allocation policy that falls within the government’s authority in operating the national budget.

He views this approach as demonstrating prudence in expanding and strengthening MBG beneficiary coverage, rather than representing a budgeting error.

“As an allocation strategy, this choice was adopted and implemented. This is purely an area of budget allocation strategy that falls fully within the government’s authority as the entity mandated to operate the national budget. This budgeting strategy should instead be praised as a prudent strategy rather than being questioned and politicised as budget misallocation,” he added.

Previously, Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya also clarified the narrative claiming that MBG cuts education spending to the point of leaving schools neglected and teacher welfare overlooked.

Teddy stated that the 2026 education budget has been agreed upon jointly by the government and the DPR, including its allocations.

All strategic education programmes continue to operate, indeed strengthened.

He cited programmes such as the Smart Indonesia Card and Programme Indonesia Pintar (PIP) continuing to be implemented.

Under the leadership of President Prabowo Subianto, educational access is also being expanded through people’s schools for out-of-school children equipped with residential facilities, nutritious meals, education, and health insurance guarantees.

Additionally, the central government in 2025 is conducting renovations to approximately 16,000 schools with a budget of 17 trillion rupiah, despite school management falling under regional government authority.

Acceleration of learning digitalisation is also being pursued through the distribution of 280,000 digital televisions, which will continue to increase.