Jakarta – Vice Chairman of Commission IX DPR Charles Honoris reacted to the Free Nutritious Meals (FML) program that will continue during the December school vacation until early January 2026. Charles suggested that the FML budget implemented during the school vacation be redirected to more urgent needs, one of which is to help disaster victims. “Instead of imposing programs at a time when they are less relevant, wouldn’t it be wiser to redirect the budget to respond to other pressing needs?” Charles told reporters on Monday (12/22/2025). “For example, helping disaster victims in Sumatra or strengthening health facilities and nutritional restoration in areas affected by acute obstruction,” he continued. Scroll TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT Charles appreciated the government’s efforts to maintain the continuity of the MBG programme. However, according to him, the distribution of MBG during school holidays is considered less effective. “School holidays mean that the learning ecosystem, where children receive the benefits of MBG, does not work as it should. The distribution of dry food during the holidays, which according to field reports contains a lot of packaged products and ultra-processed food (UPF), may deviate from the initial goal of this program, namely to improve the nutritional status of Indonesian children,” he said. According to him, during school holidays, parents have a greater role in fulfilling children’s nutrition at home. Moreover, they have enough time during the holidays, so that parents are able to prepare nutritious food for their children. “So, if what is being distributed is processed food that is low in nutritional content, the effectiveness of this program is questionable,” he said. He warned against forcing the distribution of MBG during school holidays to waste the budget. According to him, this policy must be reviewed. “We must be honest: do not allow this program to be forced only to spend the budget at the end of the year. Public activities like this must be directed at real benefits, not at spending,” he said. “I hope that the government can really review the implementation of MBG during the holiday period, to ensure that this program continues to run according to its objectives,” he added. BGN is known to have prepared a number of alternatives for students to distribute MBG during the holidays. Head of BGN, Dadan Hindayana, said the MBG program for pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and children under five will run as it should. “For pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and toddlers as usual. For school children, each SPPG must do an inventory of how many and how often children are willing to go to school,” Dadan said when asked for confirmation, Sunday (21/12). Dadan said that at the beginning of the school holidays, students will get ready-to-eat menus such as eggs, fruit, milk, shredded meat or beef jerky. This menu runs for a maximum of 4 days. “For the rest of the day, if students are willing to come to school, they will be distributed to school, if not, we have to start taking up delivery mechanisms at homes or pick them up at SPPG,” he said. “We are currently designing a delivery system after 4 holidays,” he added. (amw/lir)