Indonesia’s free meal program leads to poisoning of 2,000 people, human rights groups call on police to investigate

(Central News Agency, Jakarta, comprehensive foreign news report on the 4th) Indonesia’s highest human rights body today called on the police to investigate recent cases of food poisoning. The incidents are linked to President Prabowo Subianto's free school meals program, which has sickened 2,000 people this week.

Reuters reported that in several cases on at least two major Indonesian islands, about 2,000 teachers and students became ill after eating government-issued lunches. The feeding program is part of President Prabowo's policy to combat malnutrition launched last year.

Indonesia's independent human rights body National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) said in a statement: "The right to access food, especially the right to ensure safe food consumption, is a basic human right."

"Without strict hygiene standards... state-driven nutritional intervention programs will lose their moral legitimacy," the committee said.

The National Human Rights Commission called on police to investigate the food poisoning cases but gave no further details. Indonesia's national police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The National Human Rights Commission also called on the National Nutrition Agency, which oversees the program, to suspend the operation of catering kitchens suspected of causing food poisoning incidents.