National Nutrition Agency Responds to Calls to Halt Free Nutritious Meals Programme

Deputy Head of the National Nutrition Agency Agustina Arumsari has stated that public debate over the continuation of the free nutritious meals project is commonplace. As an aide to President Prabowo Subianto, she considers her duty to be carrying out the Head of State’s orders, regardless of calls to halt the MBG programme.

“We were appointed to execute orders. That is all. The fact that the public has pros and cons and so forth is indeed normal in a democratic country,” Arumsari said after attending a working meeting with Commission IX of the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Monday, 15 June 2026.

Arumsari expressed confidence that her appointment to replace the Deputy Head of BGN, who was implicated in a corruption case, was aimed at improving the nutrition agency. She remains optimistic that MBG can become a work programme capable of raising the nutritional standards of children who face difficulties accessing nutritious food.

Nevertheless, she stressed that BGN needs to restructure by redefining the target beneficiaries due to limited state budget resources, particularly for beneficiaries whose health conditions can no longer be improved through nutritional fulfilment interventions.

“If it is for making them healthy, perhaps that is fine, but our finances are limited, so we must choose which ones are the priority,” she said.

Demands to terminate MBG echoed during the “Towards a Bankrupt Indonesia” student demonstrations last week. Students from various campuses in Jakarta also urged the government to stop state budget waste, lower fuel and staple goods prices, and halt the construction of the Koperasi Desa Merah Putih village cooperatives. The students also demanded that the military return to barracks. Similar demands were voiced at protests held in Solo, Semarang, and Yogyakarta.

Head of the Communication Body Muhammad Qodari affirmed that the government will not halt MBG, which remains a priority programme of President Prabowo Subianto. According to him, BGN will continue MBG while conducting evaluations of its governance.