Prabowo Subianto Unveils Priorities for Indonesia, Including Free Lunch Program and Healthcare Reforms

JAKARTA — Just hours after his inauguration as Indonesia’s eighth president, Prabowo Subianto has revealed his ambitious plans to address some of the country’s most pressing issues. The 73-year-old leader, who took office on October 20, has appointed a record 48-member cabinet to help him implement his wide-ranging agenda. Among the key priorities are a free lunch program, healthcare reforms, food security, and improving education.

  1. Free Lunch Program

One of the centerpieces of President Prabowo’s campaign, the free lunch program aims to tackle malnutrition by providing meals to children and pregnant women in Indonesia’s poorest communities. With a budget of 71 trillion rupiah (S$6 billion) already allocated, the program is being piloted in cities like Jakarta and Semarang, with the goal of expanding to cover 82.9 million students by 2029. The government plans to spend up to 400 trillion rupiah on the initiative over the next five years.

In his inaugural address, Prabowo emphasized the importance of combating child malnutrition, saying, “Too many of our children go to school without breakfast.” Currently, 21.6% of Indonesian children under five suffer from stunting due to poor nutrition, according to UNICEF.

  1. Better Healthcare

Prabowo’s healthcare reforms include providing free medical check-ups for 55 million Indonesians, with a particular focus on those over 50. The initiative, which will roll out in 2025, is designed to promote preventive care and tackle serious public health challenges such as tuberculosis (TB), a major issue in Indonesia. The World Health Organization ranks Indonesia as having the second-highest number of TB cases globally, with around 100,000 TB-related deaths each year.

The government has earmarked 3.3 trillion rupiah for the check-up initiative and 8 trillion rupiah for completing TB treatment programs. Additionally, 1.7 trillion rupiah will be allocated for expanding healthcare facilities, including the construction of new hospitals.

  1. Food Security

Addressing Indonesia’s reliance on imported food, President Prabowo has set a goal of achieving food self-sufficiency within the next four to five years. He announced a 15 trillion rupiah investment to develop national, regional, and village-level food storage facilities and create new rice fields to ensure stable food supplies.

In his speech, Prabowo emphasized the importance of food security in a world facing growing protectionism and geopolitical tensions, declaring, “We are even ready to become the world’s food barn.”

To facilitate this, Prabowo has created a new Coordinating Ministry for Food Affairs, led by former trade minister Zulkifli Hasan.

  1. Improving Education

Another major focus for Prabowo’s administration is education reform, with 20 trillion rupiah allocated to renovate schools and improve learning environments, particularly in rural areas. Many schools in Indonesia’s more remote regions lack modern infrastructure and technological tools, creating a significant disparity between urban and rural education.

The renovations will also create job opportunities for local communities, as the government plans to hire local contractors for the work. Access to education remains a challenge across Indonesia’s 17,000 islands, where over four million children and adolescents aged 7 to 18 are still out of school, according to UNICEF.