Beyond its immediate welfare objective, the MBG programme is emblematic of a broader pattern of executive authority consolidation increasingly characteristic of the Prabowo administration. The TNI’s swift and efficient mobilisation to manage the programme reflects both its institutional capacity and the societal acceptance of the TNI’s role in civilian affairs and institutions. This acceptance is rooted in Indonesia’s strategic culture, in which the armed forces have traditionally been viewed as a binding force in a diverse, decentralised state. The TNI’s leadership of the meal programme reinforces a model of military-civil fusion that privileges the armed forces and…