Regent of Banyumas, Sadewo Lastiono, recently talked about the unclear regulations regarding the role of local government in the free nutritious meals (MBG) program. The local government, according to Sadewo, was not even included in the planning stage. If true, this is a serious systemic issue that indicates the flawed design of the program.

The revocation of a CNN Indonesia reporter’s press ID card at the State Palace is not an isolated bureaucratic misstep. It is part of a troubling continuum in Indonesia’s democratic history—where governments, regardless of era, find ways to discipline the press when it dares to question power.

The United Development Party (PPP) once stood as the political home of Indonesia’s Muslim middle ground. Today, however, it is a house divided. The party’s 10th Congress (Muktamar) in late September did not deliver the long-awaited unity after PPP’s humiliating failure to clear the parliamentary threshold in the 2024 election. Instead, it ended with two rival claims to the chairmanship: Muhammad Mardiono and Agus Suparmanto.

The sudden emergence of two different police reform teams—one appointed by the President and another formed internally by the National Police—may appear at first as bureaucratic redundancy. In reality, it reflects a deeper political compromise: a struggle over trust, legitimacy, and control in the reform of one of Indonesia’s most powerful yet most distrusted institutions.

When rumors swirled that Mahfud MD would return as Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) under President Prabowo Subianto, many found the speculation plausible. A respected legal scholar, former Constitutional Court chief justice, and Jokowi’s minister, Mahfud carried the reputation of a reformist who could lend moral legitimacy to a new administration often criticized as transactional. Yet, instead of reentering the cabinet, Mahfud chose a different path: declining the offer and joining the Police Reform Commission, a role outside the formal circle of power.

Within the span of a week, hundreds of Indonesian students have fallen sick from food poisoning caused by the government-led free nutritious meal (MBG) program. Small insects and caterpillars were reportedly found in their food, raising questions about the program’s safety measures. Meanwhile, President Prabowo Subianto stayed at a luxury hotel in New York and attended the UN’s High-Level International Conference to extend support for the Israel-Palestine two-state solution.

With the alarming number of food poisoning incidents, the government is urged to put a temporary halt to the free nutritious meals (MBG) program. Too many children have become victims, and many people, including the Child Protection Commission (KPAI), agree that a major overhaul is more than necessary for the program before it completely turns into a disastrous mess.

The recent transformation of the Presidential Communication Office (PCO) into the Government Communication Agency (BKP) is more than a bureaucratic reshuffle. It is a revealing case of how communication, politics, and patronage intersect in Indonesia’s corridors of power. The change did not only affect institutional nomenclature; it also involved the repositioning of Hasan Nasbi, the PCO’s first chief, who was appointed commissioner of state oil giant Pertamina days before being formally replaced.

The National Nutrition Agency (BGN) claimed that 8,334 SPPG kitchens have been established as of September 2025, fully funded by the community. An addition of 1,542 kitchens with a Rp 6 trillion budget will also be prepared in coordination with the Ministry of Public Works and the Ministry of Home Affairs. On the other hand, reports said that at least 5,000 SPPG kitchens were found to be nonexistent even though they have been officially registered on the BGN’s website. How could something like this happen?