Sixty parents in Indonesia have filed a police complaint after their children fell ill from free meals handed out under a flagship government programme. It is the first legal challenge against President Prabowo Subianto's signature policy.
The complaint targets Indonesia's National Nutrition Agency, the body that runs the scheme. It was filed on 31 August but only shared with the media on Thursday.
Fitri Sijabat, one of the mothers behind the complaint told Reuters that at least 300 students at several high schools in Karo, North Sumatra, fell sick in mid-August after eating the free meals. Some were hospitalised.
Her daughter, 17-year-old Agnes, was among them. She was rushed to hospital and discharged the next day. But days later she was back in hospital with nausea, itching and numbness. In the space of a month, Agnes has been hospitalised four times.
“My hope is that [they] just stop the programme,” Fitri said. “Why waste the state budget if our children are ending up like this.”
The complaint names three parties: the National Nutrition Agency, the kitchen that prepared the meals, and the schools that handed them out. No individual has been named as a suspect, and no specific criminal charge has been cited yet.
Aslia Sijabat, the parents' lawyer, said the complaint calls for an investigation into possible negligence. It also asks for suspects to be named, criminal charges to be drawn up, and compensation to be paid to affected families.
He pointed to a wider pattern behind similar incidents elsewhere in the country. “No suspects have been named in similar incidents in other regions, which has created a sense of impunity for them,” he said.
Parents are not stopping there. Aslia said they are preparing a separate lawsuit against the government, to be filed with a district court soon, though no date has been set.
Neither the police nor the National Nutrition Agency responded immediately to a request for comment.
Local newspaper The Jakarta Post reported that Karo police are still waiting on forensic test results from food samples, carried out by the North Sumatra police forensic lab. Police spokesperson Pedoman Maha said investigators are also questioning students, teachers and a nutritionist.
The Karo case is far from an isolated one. Mass food-poisoning incidents have been reported across Indonesia in recent weeks. Just last week, more than 2,000 people across several provinces fell ill after eating meals provided under the scheme.
The free meals programme was one of Prabowo's key election promises. It is now the most expensive social programme run by any G20 economy, with a budget of 229 trillion rupiah, around $13 billion, for the current cycle. The goal is to feed 83 million school children and pregnant women across the country.
But the scheme has faced mounting problems. It has already had its budget cut once. Two programme chiefs have been replaced, and one of them is now in police custody facing corruption charges.
Since it launched, the programme has been dogged by accusations of mismanagement and corruption. More than 50,000 cases of food poisoning have now been linked to it, raising serious questions about whether a scheme of this scale can be run safely and sustainably across the country.
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