Indonesia.. Calls for Investigation into Poisoning of 2,000 Students by Government-Provided Meals

Al-Taj News – Indonesia’s independent National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) called on police Friday to investigate several new cases of food poisoning linked to President Prabowo Subianto’s program to provide free meals to students, which caused around 2,000 people to fall ill days ago.

The cases occurred in separate incidents across three major Indonesian islands, with more than 2,000 students and teachers developing symptoms after consuming a government-provided lunch as part of a program to combat malnutrition launched by the president last year.

The commission, Indonesia’s highest human rights body, said in a statement that the right to food, particularly food that is safe for consumption, is a human right, noting that the absence of strict hygiene and health safety standards would cause the state’s efforts to improve nutrition to lose their moral justification.

Komnas HAM also called on the National Nutrition Agency, which oversees the program, to suspend the operations of kitchens suspected of being responsible for the poisoning outbreaks.

The agency was scheduled to hold a press conference Friday, but postponed it without providing a reason or setting a new date, while its head confirmed Thursday that the poisoning cases “will be treated seriously.”