UGM Lecturers Urge Rector to Reject MBG Kitchen on Campus
Several lecturers at Universitas Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta are concerned about the government’s request for higher education institutions to build free nutritious meal kitchens, or MBG. They are urging UGM Rector Ova Emilia to take a firm stance in rejecting the construction of an MBG kitchen on campus.
Herlambang P. Wiratraman, a lecturer in Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Law, Universitas Gadjah Mada Yogyakarta, stated that the MBG project contradicts human rights because the government is implementing it recklessly, rife with corruption, and draining the budget for citizens’ basic needs, namely education.
According to him, the project merely supports the interests of those in power because the kitchens and foundations involved are affiliated with supporters of President Prabowo and officials. The government is even involving the military in the MBG project at schools.
The Head of the Centre for the Study of Law and Social Justice stated that the campus is not a political tool to whitewash the sins of the MBG project. He urged the UGM Rector to be straightforward regarding the government’s cooperation offer to open a Nutrition Fulfilment Service Unit kitchen or SPPG on campus. “Unless they have lost all sense of shame and conscience, submitting to political co-optation by those in power,” said Herlambang on Friday, 8 May 2026.
He hopes the Rector will be firm and focus on maintaining UGM’s reputation in line with its vision of becoming a world-class research university that is excellent, independent, dignified, and inspired by Pancasila. This firm stance is a challenge to safeguard academic freedom for the sake of human civilisation. The campus is not a place for MBG project cooking affairs.
Achmad Munjid, a lecturer at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences (FIB) UGM, stated that MBG is a problematic government project with lax oversight. The project is not on target and inefficient. UGM should reject building and managing MBG because the campus focuses on research, community service, and scientific truth. “Opening an MBG kitchen is not the campus’s responsibility,” he said.
According to him, several UGM lecturers are restless and intensively discussing MBG entering the campus through WhatsApp conversations. They come from various faculties. Besides the Faculty of Law and FIB, there are also the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Philosophy, and Economics. The discussion occurred after Universitas Hasanuddin built an MBG kitchen.
The government is asking higher education institutions to build and manage MBG kitchens through the Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology Brian Yuliarto along with the Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) Dadan Hindayana. This was revealed during the inauguration of Universitas Hasanuddin’s MBG kitchen in South Sulawesi on Tuesday, 28 April 2026.
Brian encouraged higher education institutions not to stop at research. According to him, campuses need to be directly involved in implementing government policies, including efforts to fulfil children’s nutrition through the MBG programme. He hopes Unhas’s step will be followed by other campuses.
Achmad Munjid mentioned that several lecturers are discussing forms of urging to the UGM Rector to firmly reject MBG entering UGM. According to him, the rejection by several lecturers is part of the freedom to speak and act. “Demonstrations, petitions or others, we are discussing,” he said.