Prabowo Vows to Continue Free Nutritious Meals Programme with Improvements and Efficiency

President Prabowo Subianto has expressed his determination to continue the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme with improvements and efficiency to ensure the nutritional needs of Indonesian children are met.

“I am determined to continue the MBG programme with improvements, with efficiency,” Prabowo said in his state address at the 2026 Annual Session of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) and the Joint Session of the Regional Representative Council (DPD) and the House of Representatives (DPR) at the MPR/DPR building in Senayan, Jakarta, on Friday.

Prabowo said human development is the most decisive factor for Indonesia’s future and must begin with meeting basic needs, especially nutrition.

“We start from the most basic thing, namely nutrition. Our children must not study while hungry. No child can learn well if he or she is hungry,” he said.

The president said the MBG programme aims to address the problem of severe malnutrition still experienced by children in a number of regions.

The head of state stated that the prevalence of severe malnutrition in some places still reaches 25 percent, or around one in four Indonesian children.

“To become a port labourer alone he may not be able, to become a farm labourer alone he may also not be able. We must not accept that one in four Indonesian children suffers from stunting, we must not accept that,” the president stressed.

Therefore, Prabowo emphasised that the government will continue to run the MBG programme by making improvements while increasing its efficiency.

On Friday, the MPR, DPR and DPD held the Annual Session of the MPR and the Joint Session of the DPR-DPD, one of the agendas of which was President Prabowo Subianto’s address to deliver the Performance Report of State Institutions and the State Address of the President of the Republic of Indonesia in the context of the 81st Anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Indonesia.

In addition to the speech, the government will also screen a video of government performance achievements.

This annual session is a state agenda to welcome the 81st Anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Indonesia, which carries the theme “A Sovereign, Just and Prosperous Indonesia”.