Free nutritious meals are rated positive, but a quarter of the public are still dissatisfied

Screenshot - Burhanuddin Muhtadi, the Principal Researcher of the Indonesian Political Indicators, at an online press conference watched from Jakarta, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (ANTARA/Rio Feisal)

JAKARTA - The results of a survey by the Indonesian Political Indicator research institute in early 2026 showed that the majority of the public were satisfied with the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) program initiated by the government of President Prabowo Subianto.

Founder and Principal Researcher of Indonesian Political Indicators Burhanuddin Muhtadi said the survey was conducted on 1,220 respondents from Indonesian citizens in the period 15-21 January 2026.

Of this number, as many as 72.8 percent of respondents expressed satisfaction with the implementation of the MBG program.

"This is quite satisfied, it is very possible to change according to conditions, depending on the ability of BGN (National Nutrition Agency)," Burhanuddin said at a press conference in Jakarta, Antara, Sunday, February 8.

He detailed that the respondents who stated "very satisfied" reached 12.2 percent, while those who felt "quite satisfied" were 60.6 percent. Meanwhile, respondents who felt "unsatisfied" were recorded at 19.9 percent, and those who stated "not satisfied at all" were 4.5 percent.

"So those who are not satisfied by January 2026 are approximately a quarter," he said.

Burhanuddin added that the level of satisfaction with the MBG program has the potential to have a direct impact on the level of public satisfaction with President Prabowo's performance. However, the survey also noted that there were respondents who were dissatisfied with the MBG program, but still felt satisfied with President Prabowo's performance in general.

On the other hand, there is a tendency that about a quarter of respondents who are dissatisfied with the MBG program also expressed dissatisfaction with President Prabowo's performance. According to Burhanuddin, this is an important note for the National Nutrition Agency to continue to improve the quality of the implementation of the MBG program and minimize negative issues in the field, such as poisoning cases.

"This is important for BGN to improve its performance. If dissatisfaction with the MBG program increases, it will have implications for President Prabowo's performance assessment in the public eye," he said.

The survey was conducted through a face-to-face interview method with a confidence level of 95 percent and an error margin of around 2.9 percent.