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View all search resultsBeneficiaries willing to forgo free meals to improve quality
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Women carry kitchen utensils and display posters, one of which reads “Life is already hard, taxes are used as they please,“ during a protest demanding the government review the free meal program, lower fuel prices, and open more job opportunities for women, in Jakarta on June 18, 2026. (Photo by BAY ISMOYO / AFP) (AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
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s controversy and pressure mount over President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free nutritious meal program, some beneficiaries say they are willing to forgo the assistance intended to combat stunting if it allows the government to address the initiative’s shortcomings, even as operators and other stakeholders voice concerns over its continuity.
Nesti Nagari, 29, was shocked when she discovered that a free nutritious meal intended for her eight-month-old baby consisted of a portion of clumped white paste she could barely identify on Wednesday.
“What mother would want to feed her child food like this?” she wrote on social media Threads, adding that she fed the meal to her chickens instead. The post showing the food had garnered more than 11,000 likes as of Thursday.
The incident prompted the woman from Kediri, East Java, to reject the meals.
“I actually didn't want to receive it because I can still prepare nutritious food for my child myself,” she told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
She said she would support a temporary suspension of the program for evaluation, or even its termination, so that “the budget can be redirected to other urgent priorities, such as education and health care.”
Read also: Pressure mounts to halt, review Prabowo’s free meals program
