Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto finally made a surprise free school meal inspection in East Jakarta on Monday, about a month after the launch of his signature program that helped him secure election victory.

Prabowo paid the unannounced visits to the SDN 05 Jati state elementary school and the TK Negeri 02 kindergarten to check the free meal program firsthand, according to Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya. A video uploaded by @inforawamangun on Instagram showed schoolkids cheering on Prabowo’s arrival at the schools.

“The president also visited a public kitchen in Pulo Gadung,” Teddy said, as reported by the state news agency Antara.

The kitchen in question is in charge of preparing the meals that get distributed to the local schools. The Jakarta Globe’s sister publication Beritasatu reported that Prabowo arrived in the kitchen at around 10.23 a.m. The retired army general asked when the meal prep usually begins. He also checked the menu that the kitchen had selected for the students.

“Peace be upon you. Are you all on duty?” Prabowo asked the kitchen staff.

The kitchen manager responded: “Yes, sir. And  this is where we prepare the vegetables and so on.”

Indonesia officially launched the budget-heavy program that aimed to feed nearly 83 million students and expectant mothers nutrient-rich meals on Jan. 6. This program was at the center of Prabowo’s campaign when he ran for president last year. The school meal rollout has also taken a great deal of his Merah Putih cabinet’s attention. 

Presidential spokesman Hasan Nasbi previously had dropped hints that Prabowo would be making impromptu visits to schools to make sure his program would run without a hitch. Dadan Hindayana, who heads the National Nutrition Agency which is in charge of overseeing the meal rollout, said that he could not predict when Prabowo would be having these surprise inspections.

Indonesia is allocating Rp 71 trillion ($4.3 billion) in state money to fund the free meal program throughout 2025. The program aims to bring down Indonesia’s national stunting rate, which stood at 21.5 percent as of 2023.

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