By Stanley Widianto
JAKARTA, July 30 (Reuters) - Indonesia's top constitutional court ruled on Thursday that the government cannot continue to finance its multibillion-dollar free meals programme with funds sourced from the education budget, delivering another blow to President Prabowo Subianto's main campaign promise.
The free meals programme was launched in 2025 with the aim of feeding 83 million school children and expectant mothers to combat under-nutrition.
But its sheer size, as well as the logistical
challenges of operating across an archipelago of 280 million people, has left the government with a heavy price tag, dwarfing most other programmes, sparking fears that it could drive up the fiscal deficit.
Chief judge Suhartoyo said on Thursday that the free meals budget must be separated from the budget for operational spending on education starting from 2028 at the latest, with judges recommending that the split should take place as early as next year. Indonesia will present its 2027 state budget next month.
The ruling came after students and educators filed petitions against the country's state budget law for 2026, which counted the free meals programme as an "educational provision" that required operational funding.
The finance ministry earmarked 769 trillion rupiah for education, 223 trillion of which was part of the budget for the free meals programme.
The government has defended the allocation in court, arguing that improving nutrition should be part of the education process.
But last month, witness Iman Zanatul Haeri, a history teacher, told the court through tears that the programme had coincided with the termination of teacher contracts as well as salary cuts.
The judges said the free meals programme was a "real solution" to address stunting "so that the court feels it must have its own allocation within the state budget."
"Adding nutritious meals as one of the education provisions ... creates imbalances in the proportionality of the education budget," Judge M. Guntur Hamzah said.
Indonesia's finance ministry declined to comment on Thursday.
Thursday's court verdict is the latest in a growing list of troubles plaguing Prabowo's flagship scheme.
The beleaguered agency in charge of the programme has already seen two changes of leadership in the last few weeks.
Authorities arrested the agency chief last month for corruption allegations linked to the programme. The government also reduced the 2026 budget on two occasions, and said more cuts were possible.
In a July survey by an independent pollster, only 33.8% of respondents said they were satisfied with the programme, falling by some 30 percentage points compared to last November.
($1 = 18,075 rupiah)
(Reporting by Stanley Widianto)
