The Ombudsman Of The Republic Of Indonesia Calls The MBG Program A Shortage Of Budget Causes Many Problems

JAKARTA - Member of the Indonesian Ombudsman Yeka Hendra Fatika revealed that there were many problems in the implementation of the free nutritious eating program (MBG) due to the lack of supporting budgets.

"During January to April 2025, we recorded many problems in the field. The Ombudsman sees that this program (MBG) has not been supported by adequate budget policies," Yeka said when giving information after a coordination meeting with the Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) Dadan Hindayana at the Indonesian Ombudsman Office, Jakarta, Wednesday, May 14, was confiscated by Antara.

Yeka said that BGN in the meeting explained that the MBG budget was originally expected to be completed in December 2024 and the MBG could be implemented in January 2025. Standard operating procedures (SOP) have even been set by BGN before the MBG program was launched.

On the other hand, he said that the government needed time to prepare the technical implementation of the MBG, while the MBG program could not be postponed.

"Political consequences for this program (MBG) are very high. Therefore, the road that must be carried out by BGN is that this program must run (ongoing, ed.) with various limitations available," he said.

Thus, Yeka continued, a number of problems arose due to the lack of budget to support the MBG program.

He said that the Head of BGN Dadan Hindayana in the coordination meeting stated that in the future there will be no more budget or payment problems related to the MBG program, starting in May 2025.

"It is certain that from May 2025 there will be no more budget problems. There will be no more payment problems," he said.