Deputy Minister Farida Explains the Importance of Red and White Village Cooperatives for Society

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Deputy Minister of Cooperatives Farida Farichah explained the urgency of Red and White Village/Urban Village Cooperatives for Indonesian society. She shared this during session I of the Top Women Fest 2026 talkshow at Sarinah, Central Jakarta, on Saturday (25/4/2026). According to her, the challenge of realising the presence of Red and White Village/Urban Village Cooperatives is not easy. This assessment came from Farida’s visits from one village to another. “In the end, we know village life, that we gave birth to this Red and White Village Cooperative, indeed born with the help of the state, but its ownership belongs to the village community. From the management, supervisors, members, all from the village and urban village community,” she said. “If today the physical infrastructure that is going viral—there are buildings, trucks, many vehicles—that all belongs to the village community who joined the Red and White Village Cooperative. What is the goal? So that the economy in the village can grow, the state is present to facilitate that. More or less like that. The state is present for the Indonesian people,” she continued. On that occasion, Farida also revealed that the Red and White Village/Urban Village Cooperative is an effort by President Prabowo Subianto’s government to recall the central role of a cooperative-form business entity. Where cooperatives are a mandate of the 1945 Constitution. “So if we talk about legacy, this is the business entity passed down by the nation’s founders because it is stated in the law, and today the central to regional government has a need to restore that. More or less like that,” Farida stated.