Cooperatives Deemed Highly Suitable for Development in Indonesia, Says Minister

Medan (ANTARA) - Minister of Cooperatives Ferry Juliantono has said that cooperatives are implicitly considered the most suitable business entity to be built and developed in Indonesia. “This is in accordance with what is stated in Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution, which stipulates that the economy shall be organised as a joint endeavour based on the principle of family,” he said in Medan on Wednesday while delivering a public lecture at HKBP Nommensen University Medan. He stated that the government under the leadership of President Prabowo Subianto has consistently affirmed its commitment to returning the direction of the national economy to a constitutional economy based on Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution and Pancasila. In this new order, cooperatives are targeted to become the main pillar and agency for the people’s economic development. The transformation and change in the state’s economic ideology was initiated directly by the President. “The President wants to establish the state’s economic ideological line, directly implement economic transformation, and lay the economic foundations in accordance with the constitutional economy and Pancasila,” he said. Since being appointed as Minister of Cooperatives, he continued, he has been tasked with ensuring that cooperative business entities can catch up with private business entities and state-owned enterprises, both in terms of assets and business volume and activities. “Our cooperatives are far behind. For that reason, we at the Ministry of Cooperatives are moving quickly,” he said. Several steps have been taken, the first being a rebranding of cooperatives, as it is acknowledged that cooperatives have started to become unrecognised, especially among the younger generation, let alone millennials. The next step, according to the Minister, is to improve governance. This means that cooperatives will be developed not only from an institutional aspect but also from a business development perspective. “Thirdly, we are moving quickly towards digitalisation. Because the information previously available at the Ministry of Cooperatives was still very static. We are changing the information to be dynamic, so that we can exercise control, provide guidance, and offer assistance to existing cooperatives,” he said. The government previously emphasised that the strengthening of cooperatives would be carried out, among other ways, through the Koperasi Desa/Kelurahan Merah Putih (Red and White Village/Sub-district Cooperatives, or KDKMP), which are expected to become instruments for strengthening the village economy. At the peak of the 2026 National Cooperative Day on 12 July, President Prabowo Subianto stated that the KDKMP are directed to become village economic centres as well as the main distributors of various government subsidies to people in need. The President also noted that rural communities, particularly farmers, still face limited access to financing, often relying on loan sharks to meet their needs during the planting season. Therefore, every village is expected to have a cooperative that provides savings and loan services with low interest rates. Based on data from the Management Information System for the Acceleration of Village/Sub-district Cooperative Formation (Simpkopdes) as of 14 July 2026, a total of 83,382 cooperatives have been formed, though not all have physical buildings yet.