Sudaryono Responds to Criticism to Halt MBG: It's President Prabowo's Political Tender

Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) Sudaryono has stated that the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme is President Prabowo Subianto’s political tender. He made the statement in response to criticism calling for the programme to be halted. “Makan Bergizi is President Prabowo’s political tender. It was planned well in advance, presented during the campaign, and then he was elected President,” he said at the BGN office on Wednesday, 22 July 2026. He therefore revealed that under his current leadership, he wants to focus on resolving governance issues so that the programme is more beneficial for its recipients. “So what we are focusing on is improving governance, providing good and safe nutrition for our children, pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and the elderly,” he said. He also noted that the programme has a positive impact on the economy, particularly for people in rural areas. “This is a programme from the people and will be given to the people,” he asserted. Previously, Sudaryono admitted he would immediately clean up the governance of the Free Nutritious Meals programme after being inaugurated by the President. Sudaryono acknowledged that there were irregularities in the MBG’s governance, such as misappropriation, legal violations, and a lack of transparency. With his current position as the head, he intends to resolve these issues. “This must be my concern, especially as the new Head, to figure out how we can resolve it,” he said at the BGN office. Sudaryono stated he has already given directions to the internal BGN team, particularly regarding the legal issues that arose some time ago. It is known that the previous BGN Head, Dadan Hindayana, and his two deputies, Sony Sonjaya and Lodewyk Pusing, were implicated in a corruption case and named as suspects by the Attorney General’s Office. “There are those who are being investigated, suspected, some have been named as suspects, and so on. I want the legal matters to be handled by law enforcement,” he said. “We fully hand over the investigation and inquiry to the law enforcers who are upholding the law regarding the governance issues we faced previously,” he continued.