Prabowo Explains Why the Military and Police Are Involved in Food Matters
President Prabowo Subianto revealed the reasons behind the military and police stepping in on food matters within the government’s priority programs. Prabowo claimed the TNI and National Police are involved because both forces are part of the people. The head of state made the remarks in his speech at the inauguration and groundbreaking of the National Police Nutrition Fulfillment Service Unit (SPPG) as well as the inauguration of a Food Security Warehouse at the Palmerah Police Station in West Jakarta.
Before state officials and senior National Police leaders, Prabowo responded to criticism from experts and observers in foreign media. “Indeed there are those in foreign media who criticize, ‘This President Prabowo is using the military and police to boost food production,’” Prabowo said, mimicking his critics, at the National Police SPPG in Palmerah, Jakarta, on Friday, February 13, 2026.
Prabowo said foreign media criticized the TNI and National Police’s involvement as being inconsistent with their free market ideology. “Is there even such a thing as a free market? Right? They criticize, well yes, this is the people’s military, this is the people’s police, ladies and gentlemen,” Prabowo then said.
The Gerindra Party chairman continued that if the people suffer from food shortages, the military and police suffer as well. “The people’s suffering is the military’s suffering. The people’s suffering is the police’s suffering. Because the military and police—their personnel, their members—are children of the people,” Prabowo said.
On the occasion, Prabowo praised the National Police’s initiative in building 1,179 SPPG facilities—free nutritious meal (MBG) kitchens—as well as 18 food security warehouses across various regions of Indonesia. According to Prabowo, security is not merely about physical order and national stability but also about welfare. He stated that the first security a family needs is the security of being free from hunger.
“Today I truly feel happy, I feel a sense of satisfaction, because I see an institution that is vitally important to our nation and country—the National Police of the Republic of Indonesia—has taken the initiative in what may appear to be outside its core duties. But the National Police leadership has grasped an issue that is crucial to the survival of a nation,” Prabowo said.