Prabowo Subianto has launched a program to provide free lunches for school children if he is elected as the 8th President of Indonesia in 2024. Prabowo is serious about his plan, having allocated a budget of IDR 400 trillion to realize this program. The Vice Presidential candidate of the Indonesian Maju Coalition states that this program is one of the efforts to address stunting and poverty at its roots.

"If we look at the education budget for 2024, which is IDR 660 trillion, the question is whether school children's lunch falls under education or not. So, actually, if we allocate IDR 400 trillion, the budget is already there," he said in the Economic Discourse 100 in 2023, on Wednesday (8/11/2023). According to Prabowo, Indonesia is capable of doing this, as India, with a lower per capita GDP than Indonesia, has successfully implemented a similar program.

He cited India's success in implementing the white revolution by distributing milk to school children for about 35 years. "Initially, it was just milk, but it had a significant impact. Then I think they have been implementing free school meals for 4-5 years. The same goes for Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia," he continued. On the other hand, looking at the social protection budget in the 2024 state budget, which is almost reaching IDR 500 trillion, if a portion of these funds is allocated for school lunches for Indonesian children, it could alleviate the burden on the poor and vulnerable.

Prabowo is optimistic that Indonesia can achieve this with a sufficiently large budget, simultaneously eradicating poverty. This aligns with the vision and mission of Prabowo-Gibran, where the eradication of poverty should be the government's top priority. Efforts to eliminate extreme poverty to 0% are targeted to be carried out as soon as possible in the first two years of the government, while relative poverty is targeted to be below 6% by the end of 2029.

"So, I am very optimistic that we can implement this lunch program. If it's about IDR 400 trillion – IDR 500 trillion, instead of being unclear about it, it's better to address the root of the problem directly," he emphasized.