The Jakarta Post
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsKomnas HAM calls for police to probe food poisoning of more than 2,000 students
In separate cases across at least three major islands, more than 2,000 students and teachers fell ill after eating lunch issued by the government as part of a scheme to eradicate malnutrition launched by Prabowo last year.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Set as preferred source
Jakarta Transportation Agency officers inspect a free-meals delivery vehicle that struck students and a teacher at SDN Kalibaru 01 Pagi state elementary school in Cilincing, North Jakarta, on Dec. 11, 2025. The incident left 20 students and a teacher injured and requiring treatment at nearby hospitals. (Antara/Putra M. Akbar)
T
he National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) urged the police on Friday to investigate several new outbreaks of food poisoning linked to President Prabowo Subianto's flagship program to provide free meals to students, which made 2,000 people sick this week.
In separate cases across at least three major islands, more than 2,000 students and teachers fell ill after eating lunch issued by the government as part of a scheme to eradicate malnutrition launched by Prabowo last year.
"Rights to food, especially safe-to-consume food, are human rights," Komnas HAM said in a statement.
"Without a rigorous sanitation standard ... the nutrition intervention that the state is doing will lose its moral legitimacy," it said.
Komnas HAM called on the police to launch a probe into the poisoning cases, without providing further details. The National Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The rights group also called on the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), which oversees the programme, to suspend the kitchens allegedly responsible for the poisoning outbreaks.
Some 170 students and teachers in the South Sulawesi region of Tana Toraja also fell ill after eating the free meals on Thursday, local government head Zadrak Tombeg said, following more than 1,700 cases spread across the provinces of Central Java, East Java and West Sumatra.
At least 725 pupils and 25 teachers in Rembang, on Java Island, complained they felt sick on Thursday morning after consuming the free lunch on Wednesday.
The incident came just days after more than 500 students in Sidoarjo, East Java, were taken to hospital after consuming the free lunch meal on Tuesday.
The overseeing agency was slated to hold a press conference on Friday, but delayed it without providing a reason or a rescheduled time.
It did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but BGN head Sudaryono said on Thursday that the poisoning cases would be handled seriously.
As of September 1, 50,000 individuals had been affected by food poisoning, lawmaker Charles Honoris said on Wednesday, citing health department data, with some previous cases blamed on improper food storage and the late delivery of cooked meals.
Prabowo's beleaguered programme has become increasingly unpopular among the public, with only one-third of Indonesians surveyed in July expressing satisfaction with the scheme, pollster Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting said. Many respondents cited the poisoning cases as a reason.
The free meal scheme had a goal of reaching at least 82.9 million children, and pregnant and breastfeeding women -- nearly one-third of the country's population.
But it was among the first budget items to be cut back as Jakarta moved to counter the economic impact of the Middle East war.
Ester Patandung, whose child was hospitalised in Tana Toraja, told Reuters, "My hope as a parent is for the central or regional government to cancel the free meal programme."
