Cooperative Minister Visits Rizieq Shihab's Pesantren, Encourages Community Self-Reliance

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Cooperative Minister Ferry Juliantono visited the religious educational institution founded by Rizieq Shihab, Alam Agrokultural, in Megamendung, Bogor, West Java, on Thursday (7/5/2026). During the visit, Ferry attended the Multaqo Pengajian for Teachers and Ulama across West Java. On that occasion, Ferry encouraged the realisation of economic independence for the community through cooperatives within the pesantren environment. Ferry stated that President Prabowo Subianto wants cooperatives to become a state instrument in controlling the economy. “The President wants cooperatives to return to the ideals envisioned by the nation’s leaders in the past,” Ferry said in his official statement on Thursday. For the past several decades, he said, Indonesia’s economic system has been dominated by the market and large corporations. As a result, economic inequality has occurred. “The state must be present to regulate the economic system for justice, and cooperatives are its main instrument,” said Ferry. H.O.S. Tjokroaminoto, for example, in 1913, is considered to have proven that cooperatives carry values of togetherness that align with pesantren. Currently, President Prabowo is striving to build 83,000 units of Merah Putih Village/Urban Village Cooperatives. These cooperatives will serve as distributors of basic necessities and production facilities to rural communities. Furthermore, the Merah Putih Village Cooperatives will absorb and accommodate agricultural and livestock products from the villages. Ferry invited Muslims not only to be customers of sharia banking but to become actors in the real sector.