Indonesia fires free meals agency chief after poisonings and corruption allegations

Indonesia's president has removed the head of the agency running the country's flagship free meals programme after months of criticism over mass food poisonings and corruption allegations. Officials from the Attorney General's Office also raided the National Nutrition Agency premises early on Wednesday, adding to pressure on a scheme that has become one of President Prabowo Subianto's most closely watched policies. The agency had been responsible for delivering the multi-billion-dollar programme, which aims to provide free meals to 80 million schoolchildren.

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The sacking of Dadan Hindayana came a week after the country's corruption watchdog filed a complaint alleging inconsistencies in budgeting across kitchens. The programme has been under scrutiny since it was launched in January last year, with tens of thousands of children reported ill across the country. By April, a local non-governmental organisation said the scheme had been linked to at least 33,000 food poisoning cases.

Staff were blocked from entering the agency building during the raid, according to the report. Dadan has been replaced by his deputy, Nanik Sudaryati Deyang, a former journalist and member of Prabowo's 2024 campaign team. The change has been presented by some as a leadership reset, but critics have argued it may not address the wider problems facing the programme.

Concerns have focused not only on food safety, but also on the scale and cost of the scheme at a time when Indonesia is facing dwindling trade surpluses and a weak currency. The free meals plan is a central part of Prabowo's political agenda and was a major pledge during his 2024 presidential campaign. It has also become a test of the government's ability to deliver a large-scale social policy without repeated disruption.

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The recent reduction in the programme from six days a week to five was intended to ease financial pressure, after authorities sought to mitigate the impact of the US and Israel's war in Iran on the economy. The controversy now raises questions about whether the policy can continue in its current form. Prabowo has acknowledged that the scheme has been beset with many problems, and in a speech last month he vowed to take action.

The agency chief had also faced criticism for controversial public comments, including a suggestion that each person should drink two litres of milk a day and a proposal to use insects and sago worms in the meals. Those remarks added to concerns among some observers that the programme lacked a clear and consistent nutritional strategy. What remains unclear is whether the leadership change and the raid will lead to wider reforms, or whether the programme will continue with only limited adjustments.

It is also not yet clear what the Attorney General's Office is examining, or whether the corruption allegations will lead to further legal action. For now, the focus is on whether the government can restore confidence in a scheme that has already drawn criticism from parents, campaigners and anti-corruption officials.

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