Government has not planned to stop MBG for the Rich People, says Governance Evaluation

JAKARTA - The government has not implemented a policy to limit the beneficiaries of the free nutritious meal program (MBG) for students or able groups of people. The final decision on the discourse is still awaiting the results of the review by the leadership of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN).

"So after the process of leadership change at BGN at that time, we conveyed that we asked for time to carry out the improvement process for about 1 month," said the Minister of State Secretary (Mensesneg) Prasetyo Hadi, at the Presidential Palace, Jakarta, Monday, July 20.

Prasetyo revealed that President Prabowo Subianto had given BGN a deadline of 1 month to improve the governance of the MBG, including evaluating the beneficiaries.

Regarding this, President Prabowo has also appointed Coordinating Minister for Food Zulkifli Hasan to deepen the improvement process and sharpen the implementation of the MBG program.

Prasetyo explained that from the mapping of problems that have been grouped, another direction from the president is that the implementation of MBG can be carried out by considering the characteristics of each region.

For example, he said the implementation mechanism of the MBG in the leading, outermost, and lagging regions (3T) cannot be equated with non-3T regions or areas whose conditions are already ideal.

Thus, not all regions must rely on the nutrition fulfillment service unit (SPPG) in the implementation of MBG. However, the distribution model of MBG in the 3T region is still being perfected.

"Because one is related to the problem of the number of beneficiaries, the second is also the distribution points. As we know, in the 3T areas it is quite far, spread and small, so it is asked to do more detailed exercises," he explained.

Prasetyo emphasized that BGN and the government continue to strive to encourage improvements in the management of MBG until the specified deadline. This step is expected to make the implementation of MBG run effectively, on target, and free from irregularities.