JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto replaced the head of the country's nutrition agency for the second time in two months on Wednesday, deepening uncertainty over the future of his troubled multi-billion-dollar free meals program.
Sudaryono, who like many Indonesians uses only a single name, was appointed the same day that Nanik S. Deyang resigned just 45 days after replacing the previous head, Dadan Hindayana. Hindayana was dismissed
because of his involvement in a corruption case related to the ambitious program, and has been arrested on related allegations.
Sudaryono, who served as Deputy Minister of Agriculture under the previous administration, said after his appointment was announced that the program still needs to be improved. “We admit that there are indeed issues that need to be addressed, and that we ourselves have witnessed violations related to a lack of transparency in the management system,” he said.
The program aimed to deliver on one of Prabowo's key campaign pledges, promising to fight malnutrition by feeding nearly 90 million children and pregnant women. But it has come under steep criticism due to high costs and cases of food poisoning among schoolchildren, in addition to corruption allegations.
Deyang wrote on Facebook that she was resigning because needs to undergo heart treatment abroad.
“I also conveyed to the president with my deepest apologies that it seemed I would have to step down as Head of the National Nutrition Agency, for the sake of my health, and because the president was concerned and sympathetic toward me, he agreed, though he asked that I continue to help oversee the agency,” Deyang said on Wednesday.
During her 45 days as head of the agency, the government reduced the annual budget for the program from 268 trillion rupiah ($15 billion) to 229 trillion rupiah (around $12 billion).
The agency says it has has conducted an evaluation of the recipients of free nutritious meals, emphasizing that its primary focus at this time is not merely to cut the budget, but to make the program’s distribution management more effective and targeted.
