On Wednesday, law enforcement investigators from Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office launched a full-day search of the National Nutrition Agency’s Jakarta headquarters, barring regular staff from the building. The operation came exactly 24 hours after Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto dismissed the agency’s top leader, Dadan Hindayana, amid mounting public and political backlash over the administration’s flagship free meals initiative.
The massive free meals program was a core campaign pledge from President Prabowo, who took office with a promise to tackle widespread malnutrition across Indonesia’s 17,000-island archipelago by providing free daily meals to nearly 90 million children and pregnant women. It was also designed to support domestic agricultural producers by sourcing food directly from local farmers, with a total projected budget of $28 billion running through 2029. Despite its ambitious public health and economic goals, the program has faced intense scrutiny since its rollout, driven by widespread concerns over ballooning operational costs and multiple confirmed outbreaks of food poisoning among school-aged children who received the program’s meals.
Following Tuesday’s leadership shakeup, State Secretary Minister Prasetyo Hadi outlined the official justifications for Hindayana’s dismissal, citing failures to adhere to mandatory standard operating procedures, breakdowns in good governance, and lapses in enforcing the National Nutrition Agency’s own strict food quality protocols. Hindayana was immediately replaced by his former deputy, Nanik S. Deyang, in an effort to maintain continuity. Minister Hadi stressed that the Indonesian government remains fully committed to advancing the free meals program, emphasizing that essential public services must not face any interruptions amid the leadership transition.
To date, government officials have not confirmed whether Wednesday’s office search is connected to a formal criminal investigation into the program’s mismanagement. Mochamad Jeffry, acting spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office, only confirmed that the search operation was ongoing as of Wednesday and declined to share any details on the scope or focus of the inquiry.
Critics of the initiative have long raised broader questions beyond recent food safety incidents, challenging whether the $28 billion program is fiscally sustainable for the Southeast Asian nation, and whether it can be effectively logistically implemented across a country of more than 282 million people spread across thousands of remote islands.