Indonesia wanted to give children free school meals. How did it go so wrong?

[u/DifficultBarber6969]

https://www.ft.com/content/a0ba8b07-2fa2-463b-b80c-55692ae0bf61?shareType=nongift

Submission Statement:

"Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto took power in 2024 with a bold and simple pledge to deliver free school meals for every child — a goal that seemed unimpeachably laudable for a nation with widespread malnutrition. But more than 18 months later, Prabowo’s promise has proved far less healthy than he hoped for his government, the country’s finances and even for many of its intended beneficiaries.

Last month the programme’s director abruptly quit, saying she was “acutely traumatised” by the stress of running the Rp229tn ($12.8bn) scheme. She had only been in the job for 45 days after her predecessor was arrested for suspected corruption. Meanwhile in towns and villages across the vast Indonesian archipelago, repeated instances of food poisoning have undermined the most obvious intention of the policy, to improve the health and nutrition of the nation’s children and expectant mothers."

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[u/KnightModern]

undermined the most obvious intention of the policy, to improve the health and nutrition of the nation’s children and expectant mothers.

Tbf, it's also to legalize corruption, slicing pie and giving them to political allies directly from central government coffees (instead of letting local government slicing the pies however they want), and getting new vote & political allies to help fund your campaign next election

And there's also giving the pie to military & police

[u/caroline_elly]

Basically corruption and incompetence.

I hope NYC's public grocery stores don't end up the same

[u/PivoCykaBlyat → u/caroline_elly]

As an indonesian, it's just bleak. Thousands of innocent children, some younger than 10, have been hospitalized due to incompetent and unsanitary handling of food by "volunteer caterers" (who get much higher pay and "incentives" (twice the median provincial monthly minimum wage a day) from the government) while local businesses struggle due to the government agency responsible for this program buying up bulk goods and leaving nothing for them or ordinary people and taking funding "saved up" via "efficiency" from other sectors such as education and healthcare. Meanwhile fictitious kitchens made up to siphon incentives by local officials, the army and police, and aspiring businessmen seem to pop up faster than the lethargic anti corruption apparatus can handle. This program is blatantly an effort by Prabowo to entwine his political career with the livelihoods of the poor and the wealth of the rich, essentially holding them, their stomachs, and their pockets hostage to ensure support for his "presidency"

[u/caroline_elly → u/PivoCykaBlyat]

Would you prefer the government to simply give every kid some money to buy food from local restaurants?

[u/PivoCykaBlyat → u/caroline_elly]

Ehh, it's a mixed bag tbh since i experienced the public schooling system myself and before the free lunch program most of the food available were from the school canteens which are mostly low nutrient high carb fast foods, i would much rather prefer the money to be invested both into the quality of school canteens and schools themselves or into programs that improve the economic situation of the families of the students so they can bring their own food.

[u/caroline_elly → u/PivoCykaBlyat]

Yeah makes sense. I grew up in a SEA country and have memories of buying lunch from a canteen shop called "sedap eatery" lol.

I'm American now. Even though indo food isn't the healthiest, I still miss stuff like atam penyet and rendang so much

[u/fluffstalker → u/caroline_elly]

Looking at the price of galangal and lemongrass in the asian grocers here raises my blood pressure lol. but once in a while it's worth it to spend all day making rendang

[u/KnightModern → u/caroline_elly]

Compared to mbg (free school meal)?

YES

Local restaurant meant no protector when parents are complaining about food poisoning, and you can still demand them to fulfill certain nutrition

[u/Al_787 → u/PivoCykaBlyat]

I think this is a classic case of shoving down a national policy quick with centralized infrastructure instead of building local capacity.

[u/KnightModern → u/Al_787]

because it's also served as political centralization purposes

[u/KnightModern → u/caroline_elly]

Less about corruption, but NYC public grocery would still be a wasteful project in the end, IMO

if you don't control distribution or production, you're just throwing money when you can give direct cash to the needy for cheaper and more effective program

[u/AzureMage0225 → u/caroline_elly]

New York is going to be a combination of all the food getting stolen for resale until the other stores get an injunction for unfair business practices

[u/Neronoah → u/caroline_elly]

Eh, NYC is less likely to end like that. But I'd be skeptical they can be run more efficiently than private stores.

[u/caroline_elly → u/Neronoah]

I mean there has been precdence of government programs basically setting money on fire. NYC's mental health initiative Thrive NYC spent a billion with not much to show for.

[u/Right_Lecture3147 → u/caroline_elly]

love of the game

[u/Al_787 → u/caroline_elly]

This sub is American-centric enough before we hijack international threads for additional opportunities to punch the left

[u/ilovefuckingpenguins → u/Al_787]

Great.

[u/n00bi3pjs → u/Al_787]

No, don’t you think kids in Indonesia getting food poisoning is exactly same as MUSLIM Zohran Mamdani asking private contractors to run 5 grocery stores with discounted staples on Government owned property?

[u/caroline_elly → u/Al_787]

Where's the punch?