Megawati Soekarnoputri, Indonesia's fifth president, endorsed and expressed support for the Free Nutritious Meals program initiated and promoted by President Prabowo Subianto's administration.
"I approve their plan to provide free meals. I mean it," she remarked as a keynote speaker at the launch of an election-themed book in Jakarta on Thursday.
Despite voicing her support for President Prabowo's flagship program, Megawati criticized the government's decision to set Rp10 thousand (USD0.62) as the budget for each meal served.
The former president, currently chairperson of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), assessed that the stipulated per-serving budget would not be sufficient to provide the program's targeted recipients with high-nutrition meals.
Megawati based her argument on the increase in prices of several staple commodities.
"Mr. Prabowo, please heed (my advice) and recalculate (the budget)," she addressed the head of state.
The daughter of Indonesian first president Soekarno opined that the government needs to reconsider the budget to ensure the quality of the meals provided under the program.
Earlier, on December 3, Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) Dadan Hindayana explained that the Rp10 thousand-per-serving budget is the average value identified as the results of a trial of the program conducted for 11 months in Sukabumi, West Java.
"President Prabowo has said that it is just the average value," he noted in a short message received in Jakarta.
Hindayana then highlighted that the BGN would opt to provide a budget not for buying ready-to-serve meals but rather for procuring the materials and ingredients needed to cook meals.
He also emphasized that his office would strive to ensure that every meal served offered balanced nutritional content according to the set standard.
Editor : Vicki Febrianto
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