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View all search resultsFree meals program rolled out hastily, admits Luhut
National Economic Council (DEN) head Luhut Pandjaitan said the implementation of President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free meals program was “somewhat rushed” but expressed optimism that significant improvements would happen in the coming months.
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Luhut Pandjaitan (center), chairman of the National Economic Council (DEN), speaks to reporters alongside DEN executive secretary Septian Hario Seto (right) and DEN member Chatib Basri (left) after a meeting with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in Jakarta on June 9, 2026. (Antara/Bayu Pratama S)
N
ational Economic Council (DEN) head Luhut Pandjaitan has admitted to flaws in the rollout of President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free nutritious meal program.
Luhut said on Wednesday that the program’s implementation was “somewhat rushed, that’s why it was problematic”, but expressed optimism that it would “much improve” in the next six to twelve months.
“The way [to handle this] is to undertake more efficiency measures and identify problems. Why was it rolled out all at once instead of in stages until we can understand more,” Luhut was quoted as saying by Kontan.
The senior official said representatives from the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) had visited Luhut’s office to talk about DEN’s study and suggestions on the programs. The study claimed the program would employ 1.2 million workers.
The program, designed to feed 83 million schoolchildren, pregnant mothers and other beneficiaries across the country with annual budget funding of at least Rp 335 trillion (US$18.66 billion) when run at full scale, was Prabowo’s main campaign promise and was his big gun in pushing economic growth.
Luhut emphasized that the program was not solely about fixing nutrition intake for children but also about generating economic activity, since its implementation required Rp 1 trillion in daily government spending throughout the country.
However, the program has been beset with a range of problems, from mass food poisoning cases in the first few months of the rollout to graft cases involving multiple high-ranking officials like the program’s implementation architect, former BGN head Dadan Hindayana.
