Puspoll: Government Responsive to Public Aspirations Regarding Free Nutritious Meals Programme
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Chamad Hojin, Executive Director of the Indonesian Polling Centre (Puspoll Indonesia), has assessed that the government has been highly responsive to the various inputs and dynamics emerging in society regarding the implementation of the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme.
Hojin also commended President Prabowo Subianto’s move to give the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) time to carry out a thorough evaluation of MBG, including improving the validity of beneficiary data, implementation governance, and the programme’s distribution mechanism, in order to strengthen the quality of implementation so that it becomes more targeted, transparent, and sustainable.
“A programme as large as MBG simply cannot be perfect from the start. What matters most is the government’s willingness to listen to the people’s aspirations, evaluate the implementation, and promptly make improvements when various problems are found in the field,” said Chamad Hojin in a written statement in Jakarta on Saturday.
The survey showed that public support for the Free Nutritious Meals Programme remains at a majority level, but has declined quite significantly, from 85.5 per cent in August 2025 to 55.5 per cent in May 2026.
In addition, 64.4 per cent of respondents said they lacked confidence or did not believe that the MBG programme is entirely free from corrupt practices. Meanwhile, in testing various government priority programmes, MBG falls within the group of programmes that the public considers in need of improvements in their implementation.
Nevertheless, the survey findings also show that this decline does not represent rejection of the MBG programme’s aims, but is largely influenced by public concerns over its implementation.
“People distinguish between a programme’s objectives and its implementation. They support the government’s efforts to improve the nutrition of Indonesian children, but at the same time they want better, more transparent implementation that is truly on target,” he said.
According to the survey results, there are several aspects that most attract public attention, including the accuracy of targeting beneficiaries, food quality and safety, transparency of budget management, the governance of Nutrition Service Fulfilment Units (SPPG), field oversight mechanisms, and the economic benefits felt by farmers, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and local businesses.
Therefore, according to Hojin, the President’s move to evaluate the beneficiary data and the programme’s implementation scheme is an appropriate response to public aspirations.
“The government is actually showing adaptive leadership. When the public provides input through various channels, including survey results, the government responds by conducting an evaluation. This is a healthy practice of governance,” said Hojin.
Puspoll Indonesia considers that the evaluation should not stop at merely updating administrative data, but should become a moment to strengthen the overall governance of the MBG programme.
The evaluation needs to cover an audit of the procurement chain, food safety standards, distribution mechanisms, the oversight system, openness of information to the public, and the measurement of the programme’s impact on improving children’s nutritional status.
According to Hojin, the success of the MBG programme is ultimately measured not only by the number of beneficiaries or the number of kitchens built, but also by how far the programme can improve children’s nutritional quality, reduce the economic burden on families, and provide economic benefits to communities around the implementation sites.
“The courage to carry out an evaluation is part of good governance. A national priority programme will gain public trust if the government openly corrects various weaknesses in implementation. We see the President’s move as an important moment to strengthen the credibility as well as the sustainability of the MBG programme,” said Hojin.