The chief of Indonesia’s $15 billion free-meals program has resigned for health reasons, the second leadership change at President Prabowo Subianto’s troubled signature social initiative in less than two months after her predecessor was removed in a corruption probe.
“With a heavy heart, I bid farewell to Mr. President,” Nanik S. Deyang wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday announcing her departure from the National Nutrition Agency, saying she was heading overseas to undergo heart-related medical treatment. She said Prabowo had accepted her resignation and asked her to chair a possible supervisory board, which she’d consider “as long as it is not related to handling money.” She added, “I swear I am acutely traumatized,” alongside three emojis of a grinning face.
Prabowo on Wednesday appointed Sudaryono, a longtime loyalist who was deputy minister of agriculture, the agency’s new chief. Sudaryono, who goes by one name, was chosen for his early involvement in the free meals program as it was being designed, according to State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi.