Prabowo-Gibran Free Lunch Program: Funding, Impact, and Implementation

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – The free lunch program for children is one of the things being touted by presidential candidate (capres) and vice presidential candidate (cawapres) number 2, Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka.

Deputy Chairman of the Prabowo-Gibran National Campaign Team (TKN) Expert Council, Budiman Sudjatmiko, said, through this program, Prabowo-Gibran is trying to improve Indonesia’s human resources (HR).

“So Pak Prabowo is indeed human-oriented. Physical infrastructure is of course being carried out, perfected, so that people are also built,” said Budiman while attending the National Consolidation of Prabowo-Gibran Digital Team Volunteers at The Dharmawangsa, Jakarta, Wednesday (20/12/2023) .

“I said earlier that other presidential candidates only promise to defend the people. Mr. Prabowo defends the people and defends the people’s candidates who are still in fetal form,” he said.

Meanwhile, member of the Prabowo-Gibran TKN Steering Committee, Hashim Djojohadikusumo, said that the free lunch program for children had been Prabowo’s obsession for a long time.

Also read: TKN Calls the Prabowo-Gibran Free Lunch Program an Effort to Improve the Quality of Human Resources

“And this is just Prabowo’s idea since 2006. I testify, Prabowo is obsessed, every time I meet him, almost every time he talks about nutrition, nutrition, nutrition, milk, fish, green beans, free food. Prabowo is obsessed,” said Hashim in Jakarta, Wednesday (20/12/2023).

If Prabowo-Gibran is elected as the next president and vice president, said Hashim, the free lunch program will start immediately. Hashim said this program targets at least 82.9 million Indonesian children, including those of pre-school age.

“Every day we will provide free food to at least 82.9 million people,” he said.

Need IDR 450 trillion

To realize this program, Hashim said, around IDR 450 trillion per year is needed. This amount, he said, was much higher than the defense budget in Indonesia.

“Pak Prabowo thinks this is very important, so important, this fund is 3 times the defense and TNI budget every year, 3 times more than the TNI and Defense budget, (only) IDR 137 trillion. And the free food program is IDR 450 trillion,” said Hashim .

Also read: TKN: Free Lunch Program Funds IDR 450 Trillion, No Social Assistance Funds Used

According to Hashim, funding for the free lunch program will not take away from the social assistance program (bansos) budget. He said this program would be funded using the new budget.

“I can say that because I am part of the expert team, the funds are there and will be there, and this is not from the social assistance budget, the social assistance flow. The 500 trillion next year is still social assistance, we will not take social assistance money for this,” he stressed.

Funding scheme

Separately, a member of the Prabowo-Gibran TKN Expert Council, Drajad Wibowo, said that funds of up to thousands of trillions were needed to realize the various programs promoted by Prabowo-Gibran. This program is not only free lunch, but also a green economy, including food and energy self-sufficiency.

“So it’s not just more than IDR 1,000 trillion for the green economy, a minimum of IDR 400 trillion for free lunch,” said Drajad in a discussion entitled The Fate of the Green Economy Transition in the Political Year broadcast on Greenpeace Indonesia’s YouTube, quoted on Wednesday (20/12/2023).

“Then we also have several hundred trillion for our target of energy self-sufficiency and food self-sufficiency. “So there is a very large need for funds,” he said.

Drajad said that his party is currently mapping out a funding plan for the Prabowo-Gibran program. According to him, there are a number of funding sources that have been prepared if Prabowo-Gibran is elected as the next president and vice president of the Republic of Indonesia.

First, through regulatory changes. Drajad said that there was a regulation that if the article was changed, the government could generate funds of up to hundreds of trillions of rupiah.

However, he did not reveal these regulations. Drajad is waiting for Gibran to reveal it in the vice presidential debate which will be held by the General Election Commission on Friday (22/12/2023).

“There is one regulation that we just need to change one article. If we change that article, we can release IDR 104 trillion from there. “I can’t share it yet, because who knows, Mas Gibran will convey it later in the debate,” he said.

Second, through a number of cases that are rolling out in court. Drajad said that if a legal case is final or has permanent legal force, the funds entering the state treasury could reach tens of trillions of rupiah.

“There are several cases where the funds have not yet been received, quite a lot,” said Drajad.

“When I worked at one institution, the amount was more than IDR 90 trillion. Now I don’t know, maybe it will increase. “We can explore that,” he continued.

Also read: Gibran Calls the Free Lunch and Milk Program Not Just Rhetoric

Another source of funding, through an overhaul of the tax system. Although he did not reveal the details, Drajad said there were a number of things that had to be changed in the state tax scheme.

At the same time, digitalization of various extractive sectors is also believed to be a source of state revenue.

“There are still several other sources of income. “My target is that we can at least identify a sufficient amount, so that if Prabowo-Gibran is given a mandate by the people, given a national mandate (elected as president-vice president), by 2025 we will be ready with the budgeting,” said the Chairman of the Council. The National Mandate Party (PAN) expert.

Not enough

According to economist and Director of the Center of Economics and Law Studies (Celios) Bhima Yudhistira, the funding plan presented by Drajad is not enough to realize the various programs initiated by Prabowo-Gibran.

“It’s still too little because a large budget is needed to fund the presidential candidate program,” said Bhima to Kompas.com, Thursday (21/12/2023).

Bhima agrees with Drajad’s statement that there are laws and regulations which, if the articles are changed, the state will gain profits of up to trillions of rupiah.

Also read: TKN: The theme of the vice presidential debate is about the economy, that’s what Mas Gibran eats every day

For example, Law Number 7 of 2021 concerning Harmonization of Tax Regulations (UU HPP). According to Bhima, the government next needs to revise this law by adding a new article, namely the imposition of tax on groups of taxpayers with large assets.

“It could be through a revision of the HPP Law, which would add a 40 percent wealth tax for the group of taxpayers with the largest assets,” he said.

Another option, through the implementation of a carbon tax. Even though the government has issued regulations regarding carbon tax in 2021, said Bhima, until now its implementation continues to be postponed.

Apart from the delayed implementation, Bhima said that regulations need to be revised because the current carbon tax rate is still too low.

Another rule that according to Bhima needs to be revised is related to the coal gasification provisions in Law Number 11 of 2020 concerning Job Creation.

A study conducted by Celios shows that the regulations in the Job Creation Law regarding 0 percent royalty incentives for coal gasification cause losses in state revenues of up to IDR 33.8 trillion per year.

Bhima said that several incentives and subsidies given to the oil and gas sector, both upstream and downstream, need to be transferred gradually. By shifting fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to the green economy sector, the transition process will be faster.

“The estimate is that there will be savings of up to IDR 33.8 trillion per year or IDR 169 trillion over 5 years,” he said.

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2023-12-21 02:58:00


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