Corruption Prevention Strategies for the Merah Putih Cooperative Programme
Recently, the Polri Corruption Prevention and Eradication Task Force (Kortastipidkor) presented the results of its analysis and monitoring of the Merah Putih Village Cooperative programme as part of corruption prevention efforts. The presentation of these findings marks an important indicator of the National Police’s role in preventing and eradicating corruption, which is a key area of the President’s strategic policy and a government performance indicator.
The direction of the Merah Putih Village/Sub-district Cooperative programme is designed to strengthen village economies, goods distribution, food security, and community access to economic services. This programme is of a very large scale. In 2025, the Government targets the formation of approximately 80,000 village/sub-district cooperatives.
The Government has also established various business models, including basic necessity outlets, fertiliser, LPG, logistics services, banking agents, rice/grain, and pharmacies. In this regard, the Merah Diser Putih Cooperative programme certainly carries legal implications; as the scale of the programme increases, so does the need for the application of Good Governance principles, which include transparency, accountability, management of conflicts of interest, procurement oversight, financial accountability, and the supervision of state assets (Regional or Village Assets).
Kortastipidkor highlighted potential issues regarding the division of authority between central and regional governments in managing the Merah Putih Village/Sub-district Cooperatives (Kopdes Merah Putih). This lack of clarity has the potential to cause overlapping authorities and create loopholes for irregularities.
Furthermore, Kortastipidkor assessed that transparency in the procurement process remains minimal, including the procurement of operational needs for the cooperatives. The National Police believe that these processes need improvement to prevent the wastage of the state budget. This represents a progressive step towards mainstreaming prevention to close loopholes that could lead to state financial leakage or potential losses to the state or the community.