August 4, 2026 | 10:06 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – While enjoying a cup of coffee at a cafe in Menteng, Central Jakarta, in early June 2026, Media Wahyudi Askar was approached by a man with a buzz cut. Without introducing himself, the man said that one of his superiors wanted to speak with the Director of Public Policy and Fiscal Justice at the Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios).
Media immediately refused because the uninvited visitor could not explain the purpose of the meeting. “I made an excuse that I had to leave for the airport,” he told Tempo in Palmerah, West Jakarta, on Thursday, July 30, 2026.
Media suspected the man’s approach was related to his work and Celios’s recent activities. He said both he and Celios had been actively monitoring government priority programs that waste public funds, particularly the free nutritious meal (MBG) initiative. On numerous occasions, Media criticized the program’s flawed governance, which he said had led to corruption and misdirected distribution.
Media is also a member of MBG Watch, a coalition of civil society organizations monitoring the implementation of the free meal program. Together with the Save Indonesian Education Coalition, MBG Watch challenged the government’s decision to use part of the constitutionally mandated 20 percent education budget to finance the initiative.
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