March 20, 2026 | 07:15 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – President Prabowo Subianto discussed plans to adjust the implementation of Indonesia’s Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) program during a meeting with several public figures at his residence in Hambalang, Bogor, West Java, on Wednesday night, March 17, 2026.
Content creator and entrepreneur Mardigu Wowiek Prasantyo, who attended the gathering, said he gained a new perspective on the program after spending more than six hours with the president.
According to Mardigu, Prabowo is considering revising the distribution model of the MBG program by introducing a more selective system for recipients. Under the proposed approach, only schools willing to participate would receive the meal packages.
“If schools or parents agree not to receive it, that is fine. There will be no coercion,” Mardigu said when contacted on Friday, March 20, 2026.
He said the policy would allow the program to be more targeted, particularly for students and other beneficiaries in Indonesia’s frontier, outermost, and underdeveloped regions, commonly known as 3T areas.
Mardigu added that the MBG program, which has been running for more than a year, remains open to adjustments based on conditions in the field.
Mardigu said one of the main challenges facing the program is public communication, arguing that the government needs to better explain Prabowo’s intentions, including the fact that schools, students, and parents would be allowed to decline participation.
“It is simply a matter of communicating to the public that it would be better if the recipients are more carefully selected,” he said.
Mardigu said he and other attendees urged Prabowo to ensure that this message is conveyed clearly and promptly to the public. The discussion was moderated by political consultant and former Presidential Communication Office (PCO) chief Hasan Nasbi.
Other participants included Najwa Shihab, founder of Narasi Newsroom; Retno Pinasti, editor-in-chief of SCTV and Indosiar; economist and former finance minister Muhammad Chatib Basri; Rizal Mallarangeng, founder of the Freedom Institute; and Muhammad Faisal, executive director of CORE.
During the question-and-answer session, Prabowo said that out of tens of thousands of kitchens supporting the free meals program, 1,030 units had been temporarily suspended due to operational issues. He said the closures were part of an evaluation process to ensure that each kitchen meets required standards.
The former defense minister also said he personally reviews criticism of the MBG program with Dadan Hindayana, head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN).
“Whenever MBG is criticized, I immediately check. I summon the head of the BGN and I continuously cross-check,” Prabowo said.
Read: Prabowo to Mark Eid in Aceh and North Sumatra
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