The news from Jakarta is, as ever, a delight for those of us who enjoy watching civilisations fumble with modernity. Indonesia’s President Prabowo fired the head of his free meals scheme after children fell ill with suspected poisonings. One cannot help but recall the Roman grain dole, that noble experiment in paternalism that eventually curdled into a tool of bribery and decay.
Here we have a similar folly: a grand gesture of state benevolence, executed poorly, and now the inevitable backlash. The UK aid programmes, ever watchful, must take note. They, too, risk becoming a vanity project for bureaucrats, dispensing treats like a nanny with a sweet tooth.
The real question is not whether the meals were poisoned, but whether the entire system is toxic. We have grown soft, expecting the state to feed us, clothe us, and wipe our noses. A nation that cannot organise a simple meal distribution without casualties is a nation that has lost its nerve.
Prabowo’s firing is a theatrical gesture, but it changes nothing. The rot is deeper. Let this be a warning: if you treat your citizens as children, do not be surprised when they get sick.
