DPR Commission III Highlights Corruption Prevention in Merah Putih Cooperative Programme
I Wayan Sudirta, a member of Commission III of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) from the PDI-Perjuangan (PDIP) faction, has stated that the Merah Putih Village/Sub-district Cooperative programme must be built with a corruption prevention system from the outset.
This is considered vital given that the programme is of national scale and involves significant budgets, procurement, financing, and asset management. Wayan noted that the analysis and monitoring results from the Indonesian National Police’s Anti-Corruption Criminal Corps (Kortastipidkor) regarding the programme could serve as an early warning system to close loopholes for potential irregularities.
The Merah Putting Village/Sub-district Cooperative programme is designed to strengthen the village economy, goods distribution, food security, and community access to economic services. In 2025, the government aims to establish approximately 80,000 village/sub-district cooperatives with various business models, such as basic food stalls, fertiliser, LPG, logistics services, banking agents, rice/grain, and pharmacies.
“The larger the scale of the programme, the greater the need to implement good governance principles, including transparency, accountability, management of conflicts of interest, procurement oversight, financial accountability, and supervision of state, regional, or village assets,” Wayan said in a statement on Saturday, 12 September 2026.
According to him, the Polri Kortastipidkor found potential issues regarding the division of authority between the central and regional governments in managing the Merah Putih Cooperatives. This lack of clarity in authority could potentially lead to overlapping responsibilities and create opportunities for misconduct.
Furthermore, the transparency of the procurement process for the cooperatives’ operational needs also requires improvement. Wayan stated that these findings should be viewed as an important step in prioritising prevention to close potential leaks in state finances and prevent losses to the community.
Several areas requiring attention include the procurement process, capital and asset management, business activity management, and the independence of managers to prevent conflicts of interest and intervention from specific parties.
Wayan warned that various corruption methods previously seen in the management of organisations or corporations must serve as lessons for the implementation of the Merah Putih Cooperatives. These methods include price mark-ups, directing winners or appointing preferred vendors, fictitious projects, and requests for fees or kickbacks.
Therefore, procurement mechanisms must be conducted openly and transparently, based on the actual needs for goods and services, rather than solely pursuing budget absorption.