Jakarta. Presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto took the final debate stage on Sunday evening by saying that his flagship free school meal program would not only slash the stunting rate, but it would give a boost to Indonesia’s economic growth.

Speaking before his rivals, Prabowo introduced his free school lunch program as a panacea for stunting, and extreme poverty, among other things. Indonesia’s economy is also expected to grow if school kids do not go to class hungry. 

“One of our strategic projects is to feed nutritious meals for all Indonesian children, including when they are still in the mother’s wombs. We will provide these meals when they are at school and until they grow up,” Prabowo said at the debate in Jakarta.

“This will address problems such as mothers dying from childbirth, slash stunting rate, get rid of extreme poverty, and absorb all farmers’ harvested crops and also what our fishermen have caught. It will boost economic growth by a minimum of 1.5 percent and 2 percent,” Prabowo said.

Prabowo’s manifesto shows that the government would provide free school meals to students of almost all levels -- starting from preschools to high schools as well as Islamic boarding schools. Prabowo is planning to distribute nutritional aid for pregnant women and toddlers across the archipelago should he win the election. The free lunch, coupled with the pregnant women’s nutritional support, will go to 80 million people. Prabowo wants this program to reach a 100-percent coverage rate by 2029. 

Bank Indonesia not long ago said Indonesia’s GDP could grow between 4.5 and 5.3 percent throughout 2023. The central bank also puts Indonesia’s GDP growth outlook to range between 4.7 percent and 5.5 percent for this year. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Indonesia’s real GDP grew by 5 percent in 2023. Growth will likely remain the same the following year.

This marks the last debate stage before hundreds of millions of Indonesians cast their votes on Feb. 14.

Prabowo has picked Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the eldest son of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, as his running mate.

Prabowo is facing against Former Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo and Ex Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan.

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