At least 365 people in Sragen, Central Java, have fallen ill after eating meals served under Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free school lunch programme, the largest food poisoning incident since the scheme began earlier this year.
Local authorities have suspended meal distribution in the affected town as food samples undergo laboratory testing for possible contamination.
The programme, which costs an estimated $28 billion (£21 billion), was a central campaign promise aimed at combating childhood stunting across Indonesia’s 80 million schoolchildren.
However, it has faced repeated outbreaks of food poisoning and criticism over its steep price tag, which has led to deep budget cuts in several ministries.
Wizdan Ridho Abimanyu, a ninth-grade student, told Reuters he awoke in the middle of the night with severe stomach pains, diarrhoea, and a headache. Soon after, he saw classmates posting similar complaints on social media.
The suspected cause was a meal of turmeric rice, scrambled eggs, fried tempeh, cucumber salad, and boxed milk, prepared in a central kitchen and distributed to multiple schools in Sragen.
The government has pledged to cover all medical expenses for those affected. “We cannot draw any specific conclusions right away,” Sigit Pamungkas, head of Sragen’s local government, told Tempo newspaper. “But the main point is that it’s not just happening here. The programme needs to be more stringent and more hygienic.”
Since its launch in January, the initiative has seen over 1,000 people nationwide fall ill. President Prabowo has ordered $19 billion in budget cuts to fund the meals and other populist projects forcing ministries to slash expenses, with reports of offices limiting air conditioning, lift usage, and even printing.
The cuts have triggered street protests, with demonstrators accusing the government of hurting workers to feed children. One placard read: “Children eat for free, parents are laid off.”
In his first State of the Nation Address on Friday, Prabowo defended the programme, saying it, along with other social initiatives, will help transform Indonesia into a nation “free from poverty, free from hunger, free from suffering.”
