January 7, 2025
jakarta – President Prabowo Subianto The much-anticipated free nutritious meal program was finally officially launched in several Indonesian provinces on Monday, with students and teachers excited to welcome the first day of implementation.
Prabowo promised to provide free meals to tens of millions of school children and pregnant women, aiming to improve their quality of life and ultimately promote economic growth.
Presidential Communications Office (PCO) spokesman Philips J. Vermonte said: “For the first time in the history of independent Indonesia, a universal government subsidy program will provide millions of people with Rich and nutritious meals processed to high hygienic standards.
He added that the program had strong support from United Nations agencies. Stunting affects 21.5% of children in the country of about 282 million people, and the country aims to reduce this to 5% by 2045.
Hundreds of kitchens run by third-party food service companies, including some run by military bases, were busy preparing menus starting early Monday morning. For example, a kitchen in Palmela, West Jakarta, prepares a variety of white rice, teriyaki chicken, fried tofu, stir-fried long beans and an orange.
Meanwhile, fried chicken slices, tempeh and a small carton of milk were served from the 0816 kitchen of the East Java Sidoarjo Military District Headquarters (Kodim). A slice of melon and a bottle of mineral water are served on the side at the kitchen of Kodam I Bukit Barisan in Medan, North Sumatra.
Meals are delivered in new stainless steel lunch boxes and must be returned after the meal.
“We have 50 employees working in this kitchen,” Palmerah kitchen manager Yudha Permana told The Jakarta Post on Monday. Among them, there are 9 chefs, 7 preparation staff, 9 catering staff, 16 sanitation workers and 1 nutritionist.
Each kitchen then delivers the meals in specialized vans to approximately 3,000 people at numerous schools.
High praise
More than 500 students at Barunawati Primary and Junior High School in West Jakarta happily enjoyed free meals.
When asked if the free meals tasted better compared to street food outside school, a second-year student claimed.
“It would be great if there was ice cream,” sophomore Munna joked with her classmates.
Gavin, a 13-year-old seventh-grader, said the free meals were nice because he usually skips lunch and only buys flavored drinks during his lunch break.
In other provinces such as East Java, implementation is also progressing smoothly despite slight delays. For example, more than 1,000 students at SMA Muhammadiyah 2 High School in Sidorzo received their meals an hour late.
Regardless, a 10th grader at the school named Da Nang appreciated the free meals.
“While we can afford lunch, this initiative is helpful. Hopefully the program will continue and achieve the government’s goals,” he said.
shortcoming
However, some primary school students still expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of milk during the trial period.
“I’m sorry we don’t have milk, we used to buy whole milk [during the program’s trial]” Phaedra, a second-grader at Barunawati Elementary School, told The Washington Post. His classmates felt the same way.
Deputy Minister of Social Affairs Agus Jabo Priyono said on Monday that the milk cartons were still planned, but would now be offered every two to three days a week rather than as a pilot project.
In late November, Prabowo slashed its budget per menu to 10,000 rupees from an initial 15,000 rupees (93 cents).
The cuts have since raised concerns among experts, who had previously warned ahead of the initial rollout that budgets might not be able to meet the nutritional intake children need.
Kenza, a sixth-grader at the public primary school in SDN 067246, Medan, was also disappointed with “the small portions of the meals.”
Not all of the 190 kitchens promised on Monday were ready. Of the 17 initially established kitchens in East Java, only 8 successfully operated the program in several administrative districts, including Pacitan and Ponorogo.
In Jakarta and many other provinces, free meal programs are not yet available to pregnant women.
Jakarta Acting Governor Teguh Setyabudi said they will start providing free meals to pregnant women in the city as soon as January 9.
Another spokesman for the PCO, Dedek Prayudi, also promised that the number of kitchens will continue to increase to achieve the target of covering 3 million people in the first phase of the plan, which will last until March.
“Our goal is to have 937 kitchens from March 1,” Dedek said.
At the same time, the government aims to have the free meal program cover 15 to 20 million people by the end of this year, and the total will reach 82 million by the end of Prabowo’s administration in 2019.
Despite these shortcomings, the National Nutrition Board (BGN), which runs the free meals programme, praised the first day of implementation and said they would learn from each evaluation.
“We are improving every day, so [the meals] Deliver faster, cleaner, and cater to everyone’s taste buds.
According to Kompas.com, Prabowo was not present to inspect the launch of the program, but presidential spokesman Hassan Nasbi said he had committed to attending a school at an unspecified time.
–Apriadi Gunawan contributed to Story of Medan
