CORE: Managers of KDMP Programme Must Consider Human Resource Skills
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Researcher at the Center of Reform on Economics (CORE) Indonesia, Yusuf Rendy Manilet, assesses that the recruitment programme for 30,000 managers of the Merah Putih Village Cooperative (Kopdes) must consider the alignment of human resource (HR) skills with actual field needs.
Yusuf stated that from a labour market perspective, the programme indeed opens opportunities for educated workers, but it must be ensured that the selected HR possess competent managerial capacities.
“With relatively general criteria—graduates from various majors, without a strong requirement for business experience—this programme appears more like large-scale recruitment of fresh graduates,” he told ANTARA in Jakarta on Friday.
According to him, such recruitment criteria could potentially create a gap between the profile of the recruited workforce and the complexity of the tasks they will face in managing cooperatives.
In fact, he continued, the managers will directly confront the real dynamics of business in the field, with pressures from liquidity, supply chains, and credit obligations.
Furthermore, he also emphasised the importance of upholding the basic principles of cooperatives as member-based organisations.
“Cooperatives are fundamentally member-based organisations, with principles of participation and joint ownership,” said Yusuf.
In addition, Yusuf highlighted the programme’s attractiveness in the context of the labour market and urbanisation.
According to him, the two-year contract scheme with an uncertain future afterwards makes this programme difficult to compete with other more stable or promising job options.
In such conditions, he warned of potential risks in the workforce selection process.
“The risk that arises is adverse selection—those who enter are not the best talent, but those who have no better alternatives,” he said.
Furthermore, he assessed that efforts to stem the pace of urbanisation through workforce placement in villages could be temporary in nature.
He added that without a strong business foundation for the cooperatives, the workforce could potentially return to seeking opportunities in the cities after the contract period ends.
“So the effect on urbanisation could potentially be only temporary, not structural,” he said.
The government has officially opened recruitment for 30,000 positions as managers of Kopdes Merah Putih. Registration is open from 15-24 April 2026.
Those who pass the selection will work under the state-owned enterprise PT Agrinas Pangan Nusantara with a Fixed-Term Employment Agreement (PKWT) for two years.