Prabowo Complains of Being Attacked Over Free Nutritious Meals Programme

President Prabowo Subianto delivered a briefing at the Plenary Cabinet Session at the State Palace in Central Jakarta on Monday (20/7/2026). The meeting was attended by all ministers and special envoys to the president who are part of the Red and White Cabinet. During his briefing, Prabowo spoke about one of his administration’s key programmes, the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) initiative. ‘I am attacked because I want to provide nutritious food for Indonesian children, to feed Indonesian children, pregnant women, and the elderly, and it is considered wasteful,’ he said. ‘But the thousands of trillions that evaporate and leave Indonesian soil every year for 34 years draw no comment, no experts protest, no investigation,’ he continued. Prabowo explained that the MBG programme aims to solve the stunting problem affecting a number of children in the country. ‘We want to feed children when clearly at least a quarter of our children are stunted, and many of them do not eat, and we are accused of wastefulness,’ Prabowo stated. ‘We are told the economy will collapse, share prices will plummet, the currency will weaken, all because of alleged wastefulness,’ added the chairman of the Gerindra Party.