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Prabowo rules out alms money for free meals program
Prabowo said his government was committed to paying for the free meals program itself and that he would ensure the funding for the program was disbursed efficiently.
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Students eat their lunch on the first day of the free meals program at Angkasa 5 state elementary school in Jakarta on Jan 6, 2025. Indonesia has launched an ambitious US$4.3 billion free meals program to combat stunting and malnutrition, a key election promise of President Prabowo Subianto. (AFP/Yasuyoshi Chiba)
P
resident Prabowo Subianto said on Thursday that while he welcomed public participation in financing his signature free meals program for students, he would not accept zakat, Muslim alms, money to pay for the initiative.
Prabowo said his government was committed to paying for the free meals program itself and that he would ensure the funding for the program was disbursed efficiently.
"Alms money is collected by the people dealing with that, but from the government's point of view, we're committed to feeding all schoolchildren in 2025," Prabowo said, as quoted by Antara.
The President said he would accept contributions from local governments to fund the free meals program.
"For local governments, if they want to join, please do. If governors or regents want to join, we're open to that if they want to do it efficiently, effectively and without corruption," Prabowo said.
Regional Representative Council (DPD) Speaker Sultan Najamuddin floated the idea late last week that zakat money could be used to help pay for the free meals program.
Sultan said the government would be able to collect significant amounts through zakat to pay for the program as Indonesian Muslims were generous in fulfilling the religious obligation.
The Muslim Charitable Donations Board (Bazis) balked at Sultan's proposal, saying it would only use the alms money to help the poor.
The Presidential Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. (ret) AM Putranto called the proposal shameful and insisted that the Prabowo government use only the state budget to finance the free meals program.
