January 7, 2025
JAKARTA – President Prabowo Subianto’s much-anticipated free nutritious meals program finally had its official rollout on Monday in numerous provinces across Indonesia, as students and teachers welcomed the first day of implementation with excitement.
Prabowo has pledged to provide free meals to tens of millions of schoolchildren and pregnant women, aiming to improve their quality of life and eventually boost economic growth.
“For the first time in the history of independent Indonesia, a universal government-subsidized program will provide millions with rich nutritious meals, processed with high standards of hygiene,” said Presidential Communication Office (PCO) spokesperson Philips J. Vermonte.
He added that the program has received strong endorsements from United Nations agencies. Stunting affects 21.5 percent of children in the country of some 282 million people, and it aims to reduce the rate to five percent by 2045.
From the early morning of Monday, hundreds of kitchens run by third-party catering services, including some run by military bases, were busy preparing a variety of menus. One kitchen in Palmerah, West Jakarta, for example, prepared an assortment of white rice, teriyaki chicken, fried tofu, stir-fried long beans and an orange.
Meanwhile, the Military District Command (Kodim) 0816 kitchen in Sidoarjo, East Java, offered fried chicken fillets, tempeh and a small carton of milk. The Kodam I Bukit Barisan kitchen in Medan, North Sumatra, provided a slice of melon and a mineral water on the side.
The meals were served in new stainless steel food boxes, which must be returned afterward.
“We have 50 people working in this kitchen,” Palmerah kitchen head Yudha Permana told The Jakarta Post on Monday. Among them are nine cooks, seven preparation staff, nine portioning staff, 16 sanitation workers and one nutritionist.
Each kitchen then delivered the meals to around 3,000 people across numerous schools with a specialized box truck.
High praise
Over 500 students at Barunawati elementary and junior high school in West Jakarta gleefully enjoyed the free meals.
Asked whether it compares to street food outside of the school, a class of second graders claimed the free meals tasted better.
“It’d be great if there was ice cream, too,” second grader Muna joked with her classmates.
Seventh grader Gavin, 13, said the free meal was nice since he never usually had lunch and only bought flavored drinks during lunch break.
In other provinces like East Java, the implementation also went well despite minor delays. Over 1,000 students at SMA Muhammadiyah 2 senior high school in Sidoarjo, for example, received their meals an hour late.
But a tenth grader at the school named Danang appreciated the free meal regardless.
“Although we can afford lunch, this initiative helps. Hopefully, the program continues and meets the government’s goals,” he said.
Shortcomings
However, some elementary students still aired out their grievances over the lack of milk which they usually received during the program’s trial runs.
“I’m bummed that we didn’t get milk, we used to get the full cream one [during the program’s trial],” second grader Phaedra from Barunawati elementary school told the Post. His classmates shared the same sentiment.
Deputy Social Affairs Minister Agus Jabo Priyono said on Monday that milk cartons are still in the plan but are now scheduled for every two to three days a week, as opposed to the pilot projects.
Prabowo cut the budget per menu down from its initial Rp 15,000 (93 US cents) to Rp 10,000 in late November last year.
The cut has since raised eyebrows among experts, who have previously warned ahead of the first rollout that the budget might not cover the required nutritional intake for children.
Kenza, a sixth grader from the SDN 067246 state elementary school in Medan, was also disappointed that “the meal’s portion was small”.
Not all of the promised 190 kitchens were ready on Monday. Of the total 17 kitchens across East Java initially set up, only eight successfully ran the program in several regencies, including Pacitan and Ponorogo.
In Jakarta and many other provinces, the free meals plan has yet to be delivered to pregnant women.
Jakarta’s acting governor Teguh Setyabudi said they would start providing free meals for pregnant women in the city as early as Jan. 9.
Another spokesperson for the PCO, Dedek Prayudi, also promised that the number of kitchens would continue to increase to meet the target of covering 3 million people in the plan’s first phase, which will run until March.
“We aim to have 937 kitchens as of March 1,” Dedek said.
Meanwhile, the government aims to have 15 to 20 million people covered by the free meals plan by the end of this year, and a total of 82 million people by the end of Prabowo’s administration in 2019.
Despite the shortcomings, the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) responsible for the operation of the free meals program appreciated the program’s first-day implementation and said they would learn from every evaluation.
“We’ll improve each day so [the meals] can be delivered quicker and cleaner, and cater to everyone’s tastebuds,” PGN head Dadan Hindayana said.
Prabowo was not present to inspect the program’s launch, but presidential spokesman Hasan Nasbi said he had promised to attend one school at an unspecified time, Kompas.com reported.
–Apriadi Gunawan contributed to the story from Medan