November 9, 2025 | 06:35 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indikator Politik Indonesian Survey Agency has reported that 34.1 percent of the public demands the shutdown of the free nutritious meal (MBG) program. Meanwhile, 61 percent of the public wants the program to continue.
"Meanwhile, 4.9 percent did not respond," said Founder and Chief Researcher of Indikator Politik Indonesia, Burhanuddin Muhtadi, in the release of the survey results accessed on Sunday, November 9, 2025.
The survey, conducted to evaluate the first year of the President Prabowo and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka government, took place from October 20 to 27, 2025.
The survey sample was drawn using the multistage random sampling method. A total of 1,220 people from various provinces participated in the survey. The selected respondents were interviewed in person. The margin of error is approximately 2.9 percent at a 95 percent confidence level.
There are several reasons why the public demands the discontinuation of MBG. The three options are: the high number of poisoning cases (33.4 percent), the possibility of reallocating the budget to other programs (9.7 percent), and the option to receive cash (9.2 percent).
Meanwhile, the top three reasons MBG should continue are alleviating the burden on parents (13.3 percent), overall program effectiveness (13.0 percent), and ensuring children receive good nutrition (11.3 percent).
The public expressed satisfaction with the government's priority programs, People's School and Garuda School. A total of 75.5 percent of the public are very satisfied and satisfied, while 14.8 percent are less satisfied and dissatisfied with Sekolah Rakyat. 9.7 percent did not respond.
For Garuda School, 70.5 percent of the public are very satisfied and satisfied, 11.7 percent are less satisfied and dissatisfied, and 17.8 percent did not respond.
Previously, the Indonesian Education Monitoring Network (JPPI) reported an increase in the number of poisoning cases from MBG. "The number of victims as of October 19, 2025, reached 13,168 children," said the National Coordinator of JPPI, Ubaid Matraji, in a written statement on Sunday, October 19, 2025.
Ubaid mentioned that the highest number of MBG poisoning cases occurred in West Java with 549 victims, followed by Yogyakarta with 491 victims, and Central Java with 270 victims. "Furthermore, North Sumatra with 99 victims and West Nusa Tenggara with 84 victims," said Ubaid.
Meanwhile, President Prabowo Subianto stated that the number of poisoning cases from the free nutritious meal program is still within a humane threshold. "If we look at the statistical data, 8,000 out of 1.4 billion (portions) is still within a humane margin of error," he said during a full cabinet meeting at the State Palace, Jakarta, on October 20, 2025.
Prabowo also viewed the poisoning statistics are around 0.0007% of the total MBG portions distributed. He said that this indicates a 99.99 percent success rate. "There is almost no human endeavor conducted over a year with such a large volume that is zero error, zero defect. It is very challenging," he added.
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