Megawati Supports Prabowo's Free Food Program, Asks For IDR 10,000 Per Portion To Be Increased

Chairman of the PDI-P (PDIP) Megawati Soekarnoputri admitted that she supports one of President Prabowo Subianto's programs, namely free nutritious food (MBG).

"He said he wanted to give me free food, agreed with me, really," said Megawati when she was the keynote speaker for the Launch and Discussion of the Titled Book: The 2024 Presidential Election Between Law, Ethics and Psychological Considerations in Jakarta, Thursday, December 12, was confiscated by Antara.

Even though it supports Megawati, she still provides several notes on the program. One of the notes provided is the free nutritious food budget which reaches IDR 10,000 per serving.

According to the 5th President of the Republic of Indonesia, the budget is not enough to buy food rich in nutrition. Not to mention if there is an increase in the price of basic commodities such as onions and chilies.

"I calculated Rp. 10,000 anyway, what are you talking about. Now the price is rising. Eh, Mas Bowo (Prabowo Subianto) listen to this, please tell me to count again," he said.

Megawati assessed that the suggestion should be considered in order to maximize the quality of food from the free nutritious eating program.

Previously, the Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) Dadan Hindayana explained that the MBG fee of Rp. 10,000 was only in accordance with the results of the 11-month trial in Sukabumi, West Java.

"Pak Presiden Prabowo Subianto menyampaikan rata-rata saja, sesuai hasil uji coba 11 bulan di Sukabumi," katanya saat dikonfirmasi melalui pesan singkat di Jakarta, Selasa 3 Desember.

He emphasized that BGN only provides a budget for raw materials and daily menus paid according to evidence of real expenditure, not for cooked food.

"The BGN mechanism does not buy cooked food, but makes daily menus and raw materials for the daily menu paid for at cost," said Dadan.

He also emphasized that BGN still prioritizes nutritional composition standards for every free nutritious food provided. "The standard of nutritional composition is still prioritized," he said.

Dadan also stated that the funds for the MBG Program were managed centrally by BGN and the cross-subsidy was carried out internally.

"Funds are managed centrally in the National Nutrition Agency, subsidies are crossed internally, and once again BGN does not buy food packages, but raw materials at costs," said Dadan.

Previously, Dadan had also emphasized that regarding the annual budget, the fixed budget allocation according to the APBN which had been ratified was IDR 71 trillion.

He also explained that the national trial in December 2024 will run at 150 points throughout Indonesia, including Aceh, North Sumatra, South Sumatra, Papua, and other areas outside Java.

"Now the officers have gone to the field. They are preparing everything for this trial," said Dadan.

According to him, the results of this trial will be the basis for setting the average price index per serving in various regions.

"We will get it later, how much in Papua? How much in Maluku? How much in Ternate? How much in Manado? How much in NTT? We will get the data from there," said Dadan.