This is a recap on the first Sagonese Dialogue Series: “Indigenous Social Movements, Commodification, and Climate Justice in 21st-century North Sumatra.” Held in hybrid format, online and on campus at the University of Göttingen (Foyer International), 18 October 2025. The session features Tongam Panggabean (PhD Candidate in Sociology of Globalization, Hochschule Fulda, former Director of Bakumsu) and is moderated by Sekar Yunita (PhD Candidate in Forest Economics and Sustaina

A little over a year ago, some of us sat with experts to map what free nutritious meals could unlock for Indonesia and what might trip it up -- looking hard at nutrition, human capital, local agriculture, and the public budget. The program is now on the ground and reach is visible, yet the past year shows how often announcements ran ahead of kitchens, logistics, and open numbers. The same checklist we drafted then still reads as the yardstick today. Will this become a big pr

The country is once again facing a tragedy as a result of the Indonesian central government's policy: the free nutritious meal program (abbreviated: MBG). Though the program is not called the free poisonous meal program, it has indeed caused mass mass-poisoning recently. The government's responses towards critiques and moratorium-calls are overwhelmingly elitists and ignorant. A minister said that it's rather the school pupils who have not adjusted their stomach to the food

President Prabowo Subianto launched Indonesia's ambitious free school meal program, Makan Bergizi Gratis  (MBG), shortly after the...