LETTER FROM YOGYAKARTA
It was one of the campaign promises of Prabowo Subianto, the former special forces general who took office as Indonesia’s president in October 2024: to provide free meals to 82 million Indonesian schoolchildren. The intention to address stunted growth was commendable. The result, however, has all the hallmarks of a fiasco: Between 9,000 and 10,000 children have suffered from food poisoning across the country (population 283 million) since the start of the so-called MBG, or Makan Bergizi Gratis (free nutritious meals), program in January. At least one student has died.
In Yogyakarta, the former capital of the revolution, the city’s top high school was just hit: 426 students at the model school Teladan reported stomach aches and diarrhea on October 16 after eating “free nutritious meals” in the cafeteria the previous day. The school blamed chicken prepared by a “central kitchen” that was delivered too early.
This was the 10th such incident in “Jogja,” as the city is known, also nicknamed the “city of students” because of its large number of schools. The negative publicity prompted Sultan Hamengku Buwono X, both monarch and lifelong governor of Yogyakarta – a unique case in Indonesia – to break his silence: “If you want to cook chicken or beef for the next day, you have to buy it no later than in the afternoon. Preparing 3,000 portions without a freezer will turn the meat bad and make it smell. If you don’t understand this in the kitchen, food poisoning will keep happening,” he said at the local government headquarters on October 17.
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Fonte: Le Monde
