Indonesia’s National Nutrition Agency (BGN) underwent its second leadership change in less than two months on Wednesday, as President Prabowo Subianto accepted the resignation of its chief, Nanik S Deyang, and immediately named Deputy Minister of Agriculture Sudaryono as her definitive replacement. The State Secretariat confirmed that Sudaryono would be inaugurated at the presidential palace the same afternoon and would relinquish his deputy ministerial post to avoid a dual mandate. The swift transition, according to a government spokesperson, was designed to prevent a leadership vacuum at the agency responsible for the president’s flagship free-meal programme, known as MBG, which has been buffeted by corruption scandals, budget cuts and mass food-poisoning incidents.

In a Facebook post announcing her departure, Nanik said she needed to seek heart treatment abroad and that Prabowo had agreed “because the president feels sorry for me.” She claimed that during her 45-day tenure she had laid the foundations for reform, including replacing five senior officials with professionals seconded from the health, education, finance, audit and prosecution services, forming eleven internal reform teams, and reclassifying 3,000 meal-preparation kitchens by quality standards. Her office also identified 414 problematic service units, leading to the return of hundreds of billions of rupiah to the state treasury. Nanik insisted the MBG programme was not a political tool for the 2029 elections, arguing that its main beneficiaries — toddlers and primary-school children — would not yet be eligible to vote, and that the scheme had a multiplier effect on local farmers and market traders.

Viewed from Jakarta, the appointment of Sudaryono consolidates Prabowo’s inner circle’s control over a programme that is central to his domestic legacy but has become a fiscal and political liability. Sudaryono, a former personal aide to Prabowo and a senior figure in the Gerindra party, told reporters he had been informed of the decision by the cabinet secretary and acknowledged the weight of the responsibility. The agriculture ministry, which he helped lead, is a key supplier of raw materials for the meals, and the president’s office stated that his experience in the food-supply ecosystem was a decisive factor. Nanik herself signalled the choice by describing her successor as “my younger sibling,” a reference Sudaryono later confirmed, noting their close personal ties forged over years in Prabowo’s political orbit.

The leadership overhaul occurs as the agency grapples with a shrinking budget, which has been cut from an initial 335 trillion rupiah to 229 trillion rupiah for 2026, with further reductions possible pending a review of beneficiary lists. Members of the House of Representatives’ Commission IX, which oversees health and nutrition, said the new chief must be willing to evaluate and redesign the programme to make it safer, more targeted and fiscally sustainable. The government’s communications office assured that the transition would not disrupt ongoing governance reforms, pointing to the newly installed senior officials and the eleven reform teams. Nanik is expected to be appointed chair of a planned supervisory board, a role she said she would accept as long as it did not involve handling money, adding in her post, “I swear, acute trauma.”