Dear readers,
Is it possible to talk about the Free Meal Program (MBG) without talking about the President himself?
Nearly impossible, as the program was a centerpiece of his presidential campaign and he hasn’t stopped boasting about it since his inauguration. Unfortunately, critics are often dismissed, regardless of their substance or relevance — labelled as people who “do not like seeing the country (or the President?) succeed” with accusations of being called “foreign stooges”.
So, it may have become harder to separate criticism of the program from criticism of Prabowo himself.
But, should we really give it a try?
Last year’s most-read piece in our Opinion column, “How MBG rolled back everything good about Indonesia’s past free meal programs” by Ravio Patra (in case you missed it), got us thinking: “Can we evaluate MBG separately from its political baggage and focus on it as a policy: its program design, implementation, and impact?”
That is the question behind Second Thoughts, a new video series by The Reformist. In each episode, we invite you to take a second to activate our slow thinking caps and rethink what we thought we knew about something.
For our inaugural episode: MBG.
Enjoy the first episode, and please let us know what you think about this new format by replying to this email or commenting below!
Best regards,
The Reformist Desk