Ilona Estherina, Jakarta – Ten representatives from the Alliance of Indonesian Economists (AEI) met with Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto on Monday, September 29, 2025, calling on the government to temporarily suspend the free nutritious meal program (MBG).
After the meeting, AEI spokesperson Lili Yan Ing said the program suffers from massive budget misallocation, compounded by recent mass food poisoning cases linked to MBG meals.
"In essence, we emphasize the need to stop MBG for now. It must be halted due to severe misallocation," Lili told reporters at the ministry.
AEI criticized the scale of government spending on MBG, which this year reached Rp71 trillion and is set to rise to Rp335 trillion next year. According to AEI, the program only requires around Rp8 trillion annually.
Citing data from the National Socio-Economic Survey (Susenas), AEI noted that just 4 percent of the 80 million student beneficiaries reported lacking sufficient food, equivalent to 3.2 million students.
"If we calculate Rp10,000 per day for 20 days a month across 12 months, the maximum budget should only be about Rp8 trillion," Lili explained.
Teuku Riefky, a researcher at the Institute for Economic and Social Research, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Indonesia (LPEM FEB UI), also pointed to the health risks of MBG, calling the poisoning cases counterproductive to the program's core mission.
"The costs of recovery often fall on families, adding further burden to poor and vulnerable households," he said.
The economists insisted the program be suspended pending a full review. Data from the Center for Indonesia's Strategic Development Initiatives (Cisdi) showed that as of September 19, 2025, more than 6,000 students had fallen ill after consuming MBG meals.