MBG Program Claimed To Be Successful 99 Percent, Prabowo Asked Not To Ignore Cases Of Poisoning

JAKARTA - The management of the Indonesian Public Health Association (IAKMI) Dr. Iqbal Mochtar highlighted President Prabowo Subianto's statement in a cabinet meeting that said the poisoning case due to the consumption of the Free Nutrition Food (MBG) menu was small compared to the total beneficiaries.

According to Iqbal, the sentence uttered was considered less empathic about health, especially children who received benefits.

"It can be considered defensive and less empathic even though statistically the case may be small, public safety and health should remain a top priority, especially when it comes to programs targeting children or vulnerable groups," he told VOI, Tuesday, May 6.

In addition, Iqbal continued, the MBG program, which is considered a successful 99 percent program, could actually lead to the perception that the government underestimates cases of poisoning. "Especially if there is no transparent effort to evaluate and improve the distribution system, supervision, or quality of food," he said.

With the response of the Head of State like that, it will reduce public trust in the government. In addition, there were no actions for improvement.

"In a situation like this, people usually expect reflective and accountable attitudes from public officials. For example, by saying that even though the majority of programs are going well, small incidents remain a serious lesson for future improvements. This kind of response can erode public trust if it is not accompanied by concrete steps to increase program security and transparency," said Iqbal.

Meanwhile, Public Policy Observer Trubus Rahadiansyah is of the opinion that the case of poisoning due to MBG should not be ignored by the government even though the scale is small.

"Regarding the poisoning incident that occurred, of course, it should not be ignored. But we also need to be honest about the scale of the program. In every large-scale public policy, especially those that touch millions of children and thousands of schools in all corners of the country, there must be challenges at the beginning. The important thing is how the government responds, "said Trubus.

However, from his observations, the government has tried to make improvements when the case occurred. "And from what I observed, the government immediately intervened to evaluate the distribution chain, curb food supplyers, and tighten food safety standards," said Trubus.

Regarding the success rate of the MBG national program reaching 99 percent, according to Trubus, it does not mean that the government is closing its eyes on shortcomings, but shows that the majority of the implementation of this program is going well and has a positive impact on the field.

"So, I think the narrative built by President Prabowo is not defensive, but rather an affirmation that the state must not be afraid to continue to move forward. Do not nila a speck of broken milk. At the same time, keep open space for improvement and supervision so that the MBG program will be more perfect in the future and zero accidents as desired by the president," he said.

Prabowo's Claims For The MBG Program Successful 99 Percent Compared To Toxic Cases

Previously, in a cabinet meeting, President Prabowo Subianto claimed the Free Nutrition Food (MBG) program reached 99 percent of its success in its implementation. However, he reminded all parties not to be complacent.

Although he knew that there were cases of poisoning that were thought to be due to MBG's consumption, the number was considered small compared to the number of beneficiaries of around 3 million. However, he still emphasized the importance of efforts towards zero errors.

"Today there are indeed people who have been poisoned. To this day, only 5 people have been poisoned from 3 comas, if I'm not mistaken, below 200 people (who were poisoned), only 5 people have been hospitalized. So, it can be said that those who were poisoned or had bad stomachs from a total of 200 people from 3 comma amounted to millions, if I'm not mistaken 0.05 (percent). That means 99.99 percent success," he said, quoted from the Presidential Secretariat Youtube channel, Monday, May 5.

"Where there is a human effort, where in any field of work, 99.99 percent of success is okay. Even though we can't be satisfied quickly, Mr. Dadan, yes. We have to see later, December 2025," continued the president.

Prabowo said that the success of this program was proud and attracted the world's attention. Like global figure Bill Gates who is scheduled to visit Indonesia on May 7, 2025, to convey his support and appreciation for the implementation of the MBG.

"I feel very big hearted, but I feel no, don't praise us, we haven't succeeded. We succeeded, God willing, December 2025. If we prove that we can hold 80, we can deliver food every day to 82.9 million of our people in a clean condition, a safe condition, a nutritious situation, at that time we can accept congratulations," said the president.