Thousands of Indonesian free meals kitchens complained on Tuesday they had been left in the lurch by the government’s move to scale down President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free meals programme to save money.
Jakarta is considering a potential budget cut of more than US$2 billion with reductions in the number of beneficiaries and kitchen operators.
There are currently nearly 28,000 kitchens and the National Nutrition Agency (NNA) plans to temporarily halt the addition of 13,000 new kitchens as part of a series of efficiency measures.
During a hearing in parliament, three associations of kitchen operators told the committee overseeing the programme their members had already invested in their kitchens and secured operating permits, but could not begin operations because of the moratorium.
“It is the NNA who asked us to build kitchens, they approved the permits but then our kitchens could not operate … We hope to be supported not to be destroyed,” said Yusuf Supriadi from the Kitchen Partners Associations.
The associations said they would consider taking legal action against the NNA if their money was not returned or their kitchens could not operate.