Lower thirds:

00:02 Report by Ferdinand Himawan
00:22 Yayah | Mother of sick children
01:01 Dr. Tan Shot Yen | Nutritionist
02:05 Muhammad Fachrial Kautsar | Policy Manager, CISDI
02:48 Naniek S Deyang | Deputy Head of National Nutrition Agency

SCRIPT:

00:00-00:19
Dozens of sick students are lying on beds inside a sports hall in West Bandung, West Java. They fell ill after eating free school meals supplied through a government program designed to fight malnutrition. A program that, ironically, has put their health at risk.  

00:20-00:30
SOUNDBITE Yayah / Mother of sick children  
  
00:30-00:43
Since the program was rolled out nationwide early this year, cases of food poisoning have been reported in dozens of regions of Indonesia – causing thousands of students to fall sick.  
  
00:43-00:57
The government’s nutritional agency says central kitchens were to blame: Their investigator, it says, found poor food hygiene and wrong handling of meals. A nutritionist tell us this likely caused the contamination of school meals.  
  
00:58-01:23
SOUNDBITE dr. Tan Shot Yen / Nutritionist  
“Between 5 and 60 degrees Celsius is the danger zone for bacteria. What likely happens is the food is cooked before dawn, packed at 6 in the morning, and only eaten at 1 in the afternoon. That’s far too long. The guidelines already set the rules, but without monitoring and supervision, they’re meaningless.”  
  
01:24-01:39
For families living in poverty, the free school meals scheme was initially well received. Parents were hoping their kids could get a decent meal.... but now, these hopes have been replaced by fear for their children’s health.  
  
01:39-01:51
So far, more than 20 million students have been provided with daily meals. Critics say the program was rolled out too quickly, without the necessary oversight – for political gain.  
  
01:51-02:14
SOUNDBITE Muhammad Fachrial Kautsar / Policy and Advocacy Manager at CISDI  
“This is political. It was a campaign promise from Prabowo and Gibran. The target of over 82 million beneficiaries, along with the growing number of central kitchens, shows that ambition. If the real goal was better nutrition, it should have been done gradually.” 
 
02:14-02:34
Many parents and NGOs want the entire program paused and reviewed. But there are no plans to slow down. The government says it will stick to its goal of supplying 83 million students with free meals by year’s end - and it’s doubled the budget for next year, to 22 billion dollars. 

02:34-02:56
SOUNDBITE Naniek S Deyang / Deputy Head of National Nutrition Agency  
“The program will continue. We just follow the decisions of the president and parliament. We admit our mistakes, we will make improvements, and we will keep listening to public feedback.”  
 
02:56-03:12
Among those pledged improvements are the certification of all of the program’s central kitchens – and better monitoring. As of last week, 20 central kitchens were shut down, too. The National Nutrition Agency says more could follow.