JAKARTA - Indonesian Audit Watch (IAW) asked the government to openly explain the actual amount of budget allocated for the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) Program. This insistence arose after the difference in numbers that were highlighted.
This was conveyed by the Founding Secretary of IAW Iskandar Sitorus who compared the budget based on the version of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
"The difference in numbers is enough to be a reason for the government to reconcile the budget data openly," Iskandar said in a written statement, Tuesday, June 9.
In 2026, for example, BGN said that the state budget support for the program reached IDR 335 trillion consisting of IDR 268 trillion in the main budget and IDR 67 trillion in reserve funds.
Meanwhile, in its study and monitoring, the KPK said that the allocation of MBG increased from Rp71 trillion in 2025 to Rp171 trillion in 2026.
According to Iskandar, the public has the right to know the composition of the budget in detail so as not to cause confusion.
"The public has the right to know how much the pure budget of the program is, how much the institutional budget is, how much the reserve fund is, how much the food expenses are, how much the infrastructure expenses are, how much for operations, and how much actually goes to the children's plates," he said.
Moreover, the MBG issue is no longer merely about food distribution but also the management of state finances with a very large budget value.
"The question of BGN is whether this institution already has a sufficiently strong control system to manage a program of hundreds of trillion rupiah with tens of millions of beneficiaries," he said.
Therefore, Iskandar urged President Prabowo Subianto and the Ministry of Finance to immediately reconcile the budget publicly so that the public can get a complete picture of the use of MBG funds.
"The figure of hundreds of trillions must not be a fog. It must be a map," he said.
Meanwhile, the National Strategy for Corruption Prevention (Stranas PK) Daily Coordinator Sari Angraeni revealed that there were still a number of gaps that could potentially trigger corruption in the MBG program. Among them are the management and distribution of the budget.
"The management of the budget at the center, then how in the context of distributing the budget to the regions, that is what we see many gaps that need to be improved," said Sari after attending an activity at the Central Kalimantan Governor's Office, Palangka Raya, Monday, June 8.
Sari then explained the findings of the Stranas PK which had been coordinated with the KPK, also noted another vulnerable point in the flagship program of President Prabowo Subianto.
The eight potential risks include inadequate regulations, bureaucratic rent practices, overly centralized governance, conflicts of interest, weak transparency, food security problems, success indicators that have not been measured, and the absence of initial measurements or baseline nutritional status of beneficiaries.
In addition, Sari said, the approach that is too centralized in BGN is considered to have the potential to reduce the role of local governments as well as weaken the function of supervision at the local level.
"Yesterday, our findings at the center by the KPK, there were about eight findings, more in the upstream sector, how this policy is improved from upstream," he explained.
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