Deputy Minister of Cooperatives: Village Cooperatives Handed Over to Village Heads After Verification

Jakarta – Indonesia’s Deputy Minister of Cooperatives (Wamenkop) Farida Farichah has emphasised that the new Red and White Village Cooperative (Kopdes Merah Putih) building in Merah Putih, along with all necessary facilities, will be handed over to the village head and cooperative management only after undergoing a verification process.

According to her, verification is conducted to ensure that the retail outlet and warehouse buildings meet the established standards before the cooperative can operate fully.

“Once everything is complete, the handover is carried out, only then can the management run the cooperative’s operations,” said Farida in her press statement in Jakarta on Thursday.

She explained that of the total 83,000 Red and White Village Cooperatives that have completed legal formation, currently 2,200 cooperatives have finished 100 per cent of their physical construction. Meanwhile, approximately 31,000 other locations are still in the construction process.

She mentioned that after the physical structure is completed, the next phase involves filling in amenities such as shelving, transportation equipment including cars and motorcycles.

Farida added that the symbolic ribbon-cutting ceremonies at several locations represent gratitude for the completion of the physical retail outlets, whilst simultaneously preparing for the operationalisation phase.

Responding to viral reports regarding a Red and White Village Cooperative building in Bojonegoro, East Java that was said to have closed after being inaugurated, Farida described this as a form of public attention to the village cooperative programme.

“We are open to suggestions and criticism; let us together make the Red and White Village Cooperatives successful so that they truly align with their objective of improving the welfare of rural communities,” she said.

Meanwhile, East Java’s Deputy Governor Emil Dardak also emphasised that the event in Bojonegoro was not an inauguration ceremony, but rather a marker of construction progress.

“In East Java, 774 cooperatives have completed construction and 64 per cent have progressed towards operationalisation. It is natural – even when building a house, once the roof is finished there is a celebration,” he said.

Head of the East Java Provincial Cooperatives Service Endy Alim added that currently 997 cooperatives are already operational in East Java, but they are still using old buildings.

He stated that after the handover process is completed, the cooperatives will be relocated to the newly constructed buildings.