Free Lunch Program Corrected: Lessons For The Public, Political Campaign Promises Are Not Realistic

A number of students showed free food during the simulation of the free lunch program at SMP Negeri 2 Curug, Tangerang Regency, Banten, Thursday (29/2/2024). (ANTARA/Sulthony Hasanuddin)

JAKARTA President-elect Prabowo Subianto corrected the name of his flagship program, free lunch is a free nutritious meal. According to observers, this incident should be a lesson for potential political contestation as well as the community.

"I want a little correction. After we study it, it turns out that the right term is a free nutritious meal for the children. That's complete," said Prabowo.

"Because if an elementary school student goes to school for example in the morning, if he waits for lunch, it's too long. So it has to be morning. Right?" added the chairman of the Gerindra Party.

Political observer and Executive Director of the Indonesian Public Institute (IPI) Karyono Wibowo assessed that this was done because the free lunch program initiated by the Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka pair drew a lot of sharp criticism.

However, Karyono said that this incident should be a lesson so that those who fight in political contestation do not spread false promises, while the community is expected not to be lulled by campaign promises.

Meanwhile, Gerindra Party Deputy Head Habiburokhman said that Prabowo Subianto's internal team was reviewing the name change of the program. According to him, changes need to be made so that the time can be more flexible.

"Indeed, I continue to be studied about the naming of the program. I am one of those who proposed changing terms," explained Habiburokhman.

Free lunch is one of Prabowo-Gibran's flagship programs in the 2024 Presidential Election. Therefore, after successfully defeating the two rivals, candidate pair 01 Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar and candidate pair 03 Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD, the promise of free lunch was immediately billed.

On the other hand, this free lunch program has drawn criticism from various circles. It takes a super large budget to be the reason.

Assuming the beneficiaries are around 70.5 million people and the price is Rp. 15,000 per serving, free lunch will suck up the budget of up to hundreds of trillions. According to the calculation of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) this program is Rp. 185.2 trillion, while the calculation of the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy reaches 257.2 trillion. The calculation from Prabowo's own camp is greater, reaching Rp460 trillion.

Political observer Karyono Wibowo said that the free lunch promised by Prabowo-Gibran met a number of difficulties to make it happen so that it would turn it into a free nutritious dining program.

"As many parties have criticized that this program is not easy, it will definitely be difficult to realize it because the budget is very large, it will disrupt other more substantial development budget posts," Karyono told VOI.

This, according to Karyono, is actually a lesson for all parties. For political elites who advance to electoral contestation, be it vice presidential candidates or regional heads, they should create realistic campaign programs that can be realized, and consider the ability of the budget to realize the program. Meanwhile, the community should also not be easily tempted by campaign promises.

"This should be a lesson for the candidates, don't just make a program that's all free. Don't deceive the people into making campaign promises," he said.

Our people must also be critical, not be tempted by campaign promises that cannot be realized. Don't be tempted by campaign promises that end up being harmed by the community," he said again.

The change in terms of free lunch to free nutritious meals does not necessarily make this program go unnoticed. Not only about the budget, this program will also face challenges ranging from the provision of foodstuffs to distribution and supervision in the field.

Even the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said it would monitor the free nutritious eating program, because it would use a large number of state budgets.

"When this program is shifted to free nutritious food, it must be clear where the budget comes from, it must be studied holistically in terms of budget, benefits," Karyono said.

"Don't let a free nutritious eating program sacrifice more strategic development programs," he continued.

Previously, Prabowo emphasized that the distribution of free begisi and milk meals to Indonesian school children would be flexible depending on the typology of their respective regions. Meanwhile, the daily chairman of the Gerindra Party DPP, Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, said that after being declared president-elect, Prabowo's focus was immediately focused on formulating a free meal program.

Dasco said that until now there has been no discussion on how to fill the cabinet, who will fill it, to the number of ministers in the cabinet. In addition, he said that there is still a need for simulations and comparative studies to several countries that have successfully implemented similar programs.

However, according to Karyono, free feeding does not answer the basic needs of the Indonesian people. Instead of providing free food, providing jobs with decent wages is considered more beneficial for the community.

"Instead of going public with the promise of a free lunch campaign, free nutritious food, it is better for the Prabowo-Gibran government to focus on making policies that can increase people's income, increase people's purchasing power, suppress inflation, and others," he said.

"So people don't need to be given free of charge, but people can afford to buy their own nutritious food. This is more important than feeding people for free," said Karyono.

According to him, free feeding is not a good way to educate the public. Instead of being prosperous, this has the potential to create people's dependence on the government.

"This program will only make people spoiled," he concluded.