Indonesia’s free meals programme plagued by alleged corruption and waste

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto's flagship 'Free Nutritious Meals' programme, launched in 2025 to address child stunting, is engulfed in a corruption scandal. The head of the National Nutrition Agency and two deputies were arrested in early June 2026 for alleged procurement fraud totaling $56 million. The programme, operating nearly 28,000 kitchens supplying up to 3,000 meals per day, has also faced thousands of food poisoning cases and budget cuts from $18.4bn to $14.7bn in 2026.