Indonesia Fires and Arrests Heads of Free School Meals Program on Corruption Allegations

Dadan Hindayana, former head of Indonesia's National Nutrition Agency, was arrested on June 3 2026 along with two deputies after investigators alleged corruption in the rollout of the Free Nutritious Meals program. Retired Major General Lodewyk Pusung and Police Brigadier General Sony Sonjaya were taken into custody with him.

The three men were led out of the Attorney General's Department offices in handcuffs and wearing pink vests used to identify suspects, then placed into a waiting police van.

Investigators from the Attorney General's Office raided the agency's headquarters in Jakarta earlier that day. Syarief Sulaiman, the Attorney General's Director of Investigation into Special Crimes, said the office had evidence the men manipulated the procurement process and awarded contracts to foundations to run kitchens when the foundations were not qualified.

He said many of those foundations were owned by employees of the nutrition agency, including the three senior leaders themselves, and that the men received kickbacks in exchange.

The three men were named suspects in alleged corruption while carrying out their duties as heads of the agency. Investigators alleged the men made purchases for the agency of more than 21,000 motorcycles, more than 5,000 televisions and 32,000 pairs of shoes that were not required.

Tens of thousands of kitchens have been set up by foundations nationwide for the program, which aims to feed more than 80 million people across Indonesia, mostly children.

The arrests came one day after Dadan Hindayana, Lodewyk Pusung and Sony Sonjaya were sacked as head and deputies of the National Nutrition Agency. State secretariat Prasetyo Hadi announced the dismissals after an evaluation of the agency's performance.

Prasetyo Hadi said there are issues relating to discipline in implementing governance, including discipline in maintaining food quality standards that should have been established by the National Nutrition Agency.

The Free Nutritious Meals program, known locally as MBG, was a key election promise of President Prabowo Subianto, who was elected in 2024. The program is budgeted to cost 270 trillion IDR, or about $20 billion, this year. One education monitor estimated tens of thousands of children had gotten sick from food poisoning linked to the program.

The men will be detained for 20 days while investigations continue.