HNW: Prabowo-Gibran Team Don't Be Confused With Free Food Budget

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairperson of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) Syura Council Hidayat Nur Wahid (HNW) hopes that the Prabowo-Gibran team will not be confused by the budget for the Free Nutrition Eating program.

"Don't then make them confused by the budget that will be disbursed," said HNW as quoted by ANTARA, Friday, July 19.

This was said by HNW related to the issue of the budget for the Free Nutrition Food program which was cut to Rp7,500.00 per serving.

"So, in my opinion, what is important is how he is the KIM (Advanced Indonesian Coalition) team and Pak Prabowo and Mas Gibran's team are really good at explaining the problem so that they are the ones who choose him both on the basis of free lunch," he said.

According to him, Prabowo-Gibran's campaign promise in the 2024 presidential election which launched the Free Lunch program with a cost range of IDR 15 thousand per person must be kept.

"When in the past, bingar voiced about free lunch with a budget of Rp. 15 thousand, then maybe that's why the people chose the two of them, so it should be taken seriously or implemented," he said.

The program, he said, should have been studied before it was campaigned so that when finally elected it must be able to fight for the amount of the budget to be sufficient.

"When yesterday dared to voice that there had been a study, of course, they already knew where the budget came from. If then they had campaigned, on that basis they were chosen, of course they would fight for the budget to be realized," he said.

The free nutritious food budget if cut to Rp7,500.00 per serving, according to HNW, will be difficult to realize in a number of areas in the country.

"Because it was Rp7,500.00 and many people said that what did Rp7,500.00 get, especially in Jakarta, especially in Papua, especially in Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, those are definitely not cheap places," he said.

Previously, a member of the Prabowo-Gibran Synchronization Task Force Team, Budisatrio Djiwandono, said that the issue of the free nutritious food budget of IDR 7,500.00 per serving was speculative.

"What is reported has been reduced to Rp7,500.00, maybe these are still speculative statements," said Budisatrio at the Prabowo-Gibran Media Center, Jakarta, Friday.

Meanwhile, a member of the Communications Division of the Prabowo-Gibran Synchronization Task Force Team, Hasan Nasbi, stated that the issue of the free nutritious food budget which was cut to Rp7,500.00 per portion was an issue far from the truth because there had been no decision.

He emphasized that so far the program is still being researched and tested in several regions. The conclusion that already exists about the program is only a matter of budget allocation of Rp71 trillion.