Ask Prabowo To Stop MBG Program, JPPI: Wait For How Many More Victims To Evaluate?

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Education Monitoring Network (JPPI) asked President Prabowo Subianto to stop the Free Nutrition Food (MBG) program, in the aftermath of the many problems that occurred in the program, one of which was mass poisoning of students.

This was conveyed by JPPI during an audience with Commission IX of the DPR RI together with the Center for Indonesia's Strategic Development Initiatives (CISDI) and the Mother and Child Health Movement (GKIA) at the Nusantara I Building, Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Monday 22 September.

JPPI National Coordinator, Ubaid Matraji initially revealed that as of September 14, 2025, MBG poisoning had touched 5,360. Then as of September 21, 2925, MBG's poisoned child data had increased by 1,092 cases.

"In June, it was already down, because schools in June-July were still SPMB or PPDB, so (the numbers) were small. But once the school entered in July, then in August and the September SPPG was hit by the MBG, the numbers went up, up to thousands. I don't know if there are any KLB indicators (extraordinary events) because the increase is very sharp," said Ubaid in the meeting room of Commission IX of the DPR.

JPPI noted, there are 5 provinces with the highest number of poisoning cases in Indonesia. Namely West Java with 2,000 cases, DI Yogyakarta with 1,000 cases, Central Java with 700 cases, Bengkulu with 500 cases and Central Sulawesi with 400 cases.

"From the report cards that we have distributed in 20 provinces, 18 provinces have reported to the central JPPI. So we can conclude that actually this poisoning case is not only at one point but spreads across all districts in almost all provinces. It turns out that there is a problem system about the rules, about the menu, so it must be resolved at the central level, not only stop at the SPPG," said Ubaid.

JPPI even found other facts in the MBG program. Ubaid said, from 7 reports in the regions, teachers became 'slaves' from the implementation of MBG.

"This teacher is a 'slave' who sacrificed MBG poisoning. So the teacher is not involved at all, suddenly there is a lot of food menu, then the teacher is told to hang out with how much it is, then distributed it. Later, if someone is missing, tell them to change the teacher, the school, and the teacher also doesn't have any incentive from MBG or from BGN to become an MBG slave," said Ubaid.

"Then if there is poisoning in several schools, the MoU token for MBG is a school, now the responsible ones are their own parents. So actually, who is responsible so that the SPPG applies the rules according to their own wishes," he continued.

Second, JPPI also found a lot of conflicts of interest in MBG kitchens. Where many government officials control the kitchen, while MSMEs around schools, warteg-warteg and so on are out of business. "Because they usually eat and then don't eat," he added.

Third, the local government, especially the Education Office and the Health Office, have never been spoken to and involved in monitoring the implementation of MBG. Fourth, JPPI found that the central BGN had failed to guarantee accountability. The five nutritional standards are still problematic. The six many children's lives are threatened.

"What is clear is that this is a kind of very important evaluation. So how many more victims are waiting for the president to be evaluated seriously or waiting for life to die," said Ubaid.

Bahkan kata Ubaid, orang tua penerima manfaat MBG merasa trauma karena anak-anaknya harus mengalami korban dan dibawa ke IGD. "Jadi sangat penting ya presiden, BGN jangan main-main dengan kehiduhan anak," katanya.

Finally, Ubaid said that civil society coalitions such as JPPI, CISDI and GKIA were never involved in the evaluation, monitoring, planning, and quality control of MBG. So that the civil society coalition is only considered an outsider in this system initiated by BGN.

Therefore, JPPI expressed its attitude and proposed that President Prabowo Subianto evaluate the total implementation of MBG, if necessary to stop this program so that no more Indonesian children are poisoned.

"We conveyed to Pak Prabowo, first stop the MBG program now. This is not a technical error but a system error, because it has spread in several areas. For that, stop the MBG program now," said JPPI program coordinator and advocate Ari Hardianto in the same meeting.

Ari also asked President Prabowo to evaluate the total governance system of MBG which is controlled by BGN. "Because this BGN is under the President, this president is responsible for conducting a total evaluation of the MBG system and governance in BGN," he said.

The President, also asked to prioritize children's safety above the political ambitions and program targets. JPPI reminded not to make children a target of political programs that eventually neglect children's safety and children's growth and development.

"Earlier it was conveyed by doctors, health workers that it turns out that MBG not only injures, poisons children, but also reduces children's growth and development," he said.

"Finally, don't use education funds for the food program because the fulfillment of the minimum standards for our basic education needs, the salaries of teachers, children dropping out of school are still a lot. In fact, MBG looted the education budget, so we respectfully ask the ladies and gentlemen of the board members of Commission IX to convey this recommendation to the President and we ask to stop MBG from stopping the MBG program and total evaluation," he concluded.