President Prabowo Urges Ministers to Learn from Other Countries to Eradicate Hunger

President Prabowo Subianto has called on ministers of the Red and White Cabinet not to be ashamed to learn from other countries in order to eliminate hunger. Speaking during a Plenary Cabinet Session at the Merdeka Palace on Monday, 20 July 2026, he declared that no one in Indonesia should go hungry. “I ask that we learn from other countries. Do not be ashamed to learn,” Prabowo said. He specifically instructed his ministers to send teams to Brazil, India, China, and Vietnam to study how those nations successfully eradicated hunger among their populations. The President also expressed bewilderment at those who consider the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme wasteful. “Providing nutritious meals to Indonesian children, pregnant women, and the elderly is considered wasteful,” he remarked. Prabowo contrasted this criticism with the lack of commentary on decades of alleged financial leakages, stating that while trillions of rupiah had disappeared from Indonesia annually for 34 years without investigation or protest, a programme to feed children—at least a quarter of whom are stunted—was being labelled as wasteful.