Yes, We Can

Indonesia’s new government kicked off the first free meal program for children and pregnant women Monday, hoping to fight malnutrition in the county, with economists stressing fiscal concern for the multi-billion-dollar project, according to the Associated Press.

The Free Nutritious Meal program was the election campaign centerpiece promise of President Prabowo Subianto, who was elected last year. The program is expected to feed nearly 90 million children and women, costing around $28 billion by the end of Subianto’s term in 2029.

The government and military, who will prepare and distribute the meals, have been running pilot programs in the country.

The first part of the scheme was rolled out this week on a small scale, with just 90 kitchens involved in preparing the first meals in more than 20 provinces, officials said, according to Al Jazeera. At an elementary school in West Jakarta, students were given food trays of rice, fried chicken, fried tofu, beans, and an orange in class on Monday morning.

Indonesia is home to more than 282 million people and is Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

Subianto said that the program aims to fight the stunting of growth that afflicts 21.5 percent of Indonesian children younger than five and would raise the income of farmers, reported the wire.

But the policy has sparked concern among some economists who believe it could dent Indonesia’s hard-won reputation for fiscal prudence. Some investors and analysts warned about the scale of its logistics, as well as its burden on the economy and state finances.

Nailul Huda, a researcher at the Center of Economic and Law Studies, told the AP that the food program will lead to additional national debt and that the nation’s state finances are not strong enough to support it.

Prabowo has defended his plan, claiming that his team has made the calculations and that “We are capable.”

In his inauguration speech in October, the president also noted that the free meal program is part of a longer-term strategy to develop Indonesia’s human resources and achieve a “Golden Indonesia” by 2045.

One in 12 children younger than five years old in the country suffers from low weight while one in five is shorter than normal, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund.