Natalius Pigai: Those who want to delete MBG are against human rights

JAKARTA - Human Rights Minister (HAM) Natalius Pigai said that those who want the free nutritious meal (MBG) program and other citizenship programs are the same as opposing human rights.

"One point that people who want to eliminate free nutritious meal programs and others need to know is that people who oppose human rights," said Pigai as quoted by ANTARA, Friday, February 20.

The statement was made by the Minister of Human Rights in response to the terror incident experienced by the Chairman of the Student Executive Board (BEM) of Gadjah Mada University (UGM) Tiyo Ardianto after criticizing government policies.

It is known that in a letter delivered to the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Tiyo criticized the MBG program. He highlighted the funding of MBG which he considered to sideline the priority of the budget to improve inequality.

The criticism was made by Tiyo based on the incident of a primary school student in East Nusa Tenggara who allegedly ended his life due to the family's economic limitations.

According to the Human Rights Minister, government programs such as MBG, free health checks, People's Schools, fishing villages, to food self-sufficiency are state efforts to meet the needs of the community.

For him, a series of programs are in line with human rights. "So people who want to eliminate free nutritious meals, free health checks, free education for people's schools, red and white cooperatives, are people who oppose human rights," he said.

The President Prabowo, he added, has emphasized that the real power belongs to the people, which is reflected through the government's priority programs.

"So far, it has been 80 years, the throne is often associated with people in power, elite people. Wealth is associated with elite people. Today, Prabowo determines the throne for the people and the wealth for the people," he said.

He further said that criticism in the name of true improvement is allowed in a democratic country. However, he regretted the criticism that led to the abolition of programs aimed at the people.

"I give people the opportunity to criticize, but they should not want to eliminate, eliminate this good program," he said.