June 4, 2026 | 07:17 am
Presidential Chief of Staff, General (Ret.) Dudung Abdurachman. TEMPO/Imam Sukamto
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Presidential Chief of Staff, General (Ret.) Dudung Abdurachman, emphasized that Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto's removal of the Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) was carried out to strengthen transparency, accountability, and oversight of the Free Nutritional Meals (MBG) program.This, Dudung said, was to ensure the program remains free from corruption and irregularities."I am confident that the President has long listened to information, scrutinized, analyzed, and evaluated various sources that have come to him. Therefore, I believe this is the right step for future improvements, ensuring that BGN becomes more transparent and accountable," Dudung said in a written statement quoted in Jakarta on Thursday.According to Dudung, the presidential decision was the result of an in-depth evaluation of the implementation of the MBG program, which is one of the government's priority programs to improve the nutritional quality of the community, especially school children.The Attorney General's Office previously conducted a search of the BGN office on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, the day after the announcement of the removal of several BGN leaders.Dudung assessed that the various information received by the President would be used as a consideration in taking steps to improve the institution.He revealed that about a month ago, he conducted an unannounced field inspection and discovered several discrepancies in program implementation, although overall, many aspects were running well."The President wants perfection, so that nothing deviates from his program," he said.Dudung stated that the focus of future improvements will not only be on food distribution, but also on the governance and management systems that support the overall implementation of the MBG program.According to him, oversight needs to be strengthened throughout the program's implementation chain, from foundation management to the Nutrition Fulfillment Service Unit (SPPG / Free Meal Kitchen), to close any gaps in irregularities that could potentially reduce the quality of service and nutritional intake for beneficiaries."I see more clearly how the management actually needs to be improved," Dudung said.The Presidential Staff Office ensures that it will continue to monitor the implementation of the Free Nutritional Meal Program objectively and without compromise to support the national nutrition fulfillment target while maintaining public trust in the use of the state budget.Read: MBG Corruption: Three Former BGN Leaders Held in Separate Detention CentersClick here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News
