Indonesia free meals agency office locked down as investigators raid premises

The raid came just hours after President Prabowo Subianto sacked the head of the agency, Dadan Hindayana, which an official said was linked to governance and food quality concerns.

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JAKARTA: Investigators from the office of Indonesia's Attorney General raided the headquarters of the country's National Nutrition Agency in the early hours of Wednesday (Jun 3), officials said, saying the building of the agency spearheading President Prabowo Subianto's flagship free meals programme was under lockdown.

The programme was a key part of Prabowo's campaign to win the presidency in 2024, and the government has budgeted at least US$15 billion for an ambitious bid to provide free meals to 83 million children and pregnant women across the sprawling archipelago.

A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office (AGO) confirmed the raid to Reuters in a text message, but declined to comment on what investigators were probing.

The raid came just hours after Prabowo sacked the head of the agency, Dadan Hindayana, which an official said was linked to governance and food quality concerns.

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Two sources, requesting anonymity, told Reuters that AGO personnel raided the building at 2am local time on Wednesday in multiple vehicles.

The building remained under lockdown at 11am, and employees who were meant to report for duty were not allowed to enter the premises.

Employees sitting outside the building told Reuters that they were unsure of what was happening. One said the raid took place on the second floor of the building, where the agency's top leadership sits.

The free meals programme has come under close scrutiny since its launch in January 2025, with investors wary of Prabowo's big spending plans and worried that fiscal deficit thresholds could be challenged.

Prabowo has promised to forge ahead with the programme despite the concerns.

The decision to remove Dadan followed an evaluation of the agency's performance, state secretariat minister Prasetyo Hadi told reporters late on Tuesday.

Dadan, an entomologist, will be replaced by his deputy, Nanik Sudaryati Deyang, who is a former journalist and was part of Prabowo's campaigning team in the 2024 election.

"There are issues relating to discipline in implementing governance, including discipline in maintaining food quality standards, that should have been established by the National Nutrition Agency," Prasetyo said.

The school meals programme has been linked to cases of food poisoning that have affected at least 33,000 children as of April, according to Network for Education Watch, a non-governmental organisation.

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