Indonesia's newly elected President Prabowo recently fulfilled his campaign promise and officially launched a nationwide free meal program for children and pregnant women. This grand plan aims to combat the widespread malnutrition and developmental delay in Indonesia, providing necessary nutritional support to up to 90 million children and pregnant women. However, the plan has also raised widespread doubts about the country's fiscal burden.

According to the results of the 2023 Indonesian Health Survey, the prevalence of developmental delay among Indonesia's population of over 282 million is as high as 21.5%. Although it has decreased by about 0.8% compared to the previous year, this figure is still worrying. According to estimates from the United Nations Children's Fund, one in every 12 children under the age of five in Indonesia is underweight, and one in every five children is stunted. These issues not only seriously affect the health and quality of life of children, but also pose a huge challenge to the overall development of Indonesian society.

During the election period, President Prabowo stated that many Indonesian children live below the poverty line, often skipping breakfast and even lacking basic clothing when they go to school. To change this situation, he promised to provide free school lunches and milk to 83 million students in over 400000 schools. This plan aims not only to address the issue of child malnutrition, but also to further promote Indonesia's economic development by increasing farmers' income and harvest value. President Prabowo also hopes to increase Indonesia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate from the current 5% to 8% through the implementation of this plan.

However, the implementation of this free nutritious meal program has not been smooth sailing. Despite President Prabowo's claim that his team has conducted detailed calculations and is "capable" of completing this plan, many investors and analysts have expressed concerns about it. They believe that the interest groups involved in this plan are complex and chaotic, and the required logistics scale is huge, which will undoubtedly impose a heavy burden on Indonesia's national finances and economy. In addition, they are also concerned that this plan may lead to further increase in Indonesia's national debt.

It is reported that the Indonesian government plans to cover 19.47 million students and pregnant women with a budget of 4.3 billion US dollars by the end of this year. The entire plan will increase coverage year by year, with an expected final cost of up to $28 billion. In order to ensure the smooth implementation of the plan, the Indonesian government has begun to carry out material allocation and distribution work nationwide. On the first day of the plan's launch, nutritious meals worth $28 million had already arrived at multiple schools, providing students with a variety of dishes including rice, stir fried vegetables, fermented black beans, stir fried chicken, and oranges.