DPR Member: Changes to Latsarmil Must Not Be in Name Only

A member of House Commission I, Oleh Soleh, has urged the Ministry of Defence to ensure that changes to the training programme for prospective managers of the ‘Red and White Village Cooperatives’ go beyond a simple change in nomenclature. Oleh is pushing for the programme overhaul to target learning methods, materials, and training systems tailored to enhancing the capacity of cooperative managers. “This change must not be limited to a name change. The programme must be genuinely altered, in terms of materials, methods, and implementation,” Oleh said in a written statement on Tuesday, 30 June 2026. According to the National Awakening Party politician, the Ministry of Defence made the right decision to discontinue the basic military training as it was irrelevant to the duties and functions of prospective cooperative managers. He believes that future cooperative managers need capacity building in management, leadership, organisational governance, and cooperative business development. “A comprehensive evaluation must be carried out so that the training is more effective, relevant to the participants’ needs, and most importantly, no longer causes fatalities,” Oleh stated. Separately, House Commission VI member Rivqy Abdul Halim proposed cutting the training duration from one month to 15 days. He believes this would allow the training for prospective cooperative managers to focus more on direct mentoring in successful cooperatives and internships with professional business actors. Rivqy noted that in developed countries like Japan, cooperative success is built through human resource capacity building, not excessive physical approaches. Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, large cooperatives thrive because they are managed by managers with strong business competence and accountability. “Indonesia needs to adopt these best practices. The Red and White Village Cooperative programme will succeed if managed by professional, high-integrity human resources who understand business and receive continuous guidance,” he said. The Ministry of Defence announced it is changing the nomenclature of the basic military training within the recruitment programme for prospective Red and White Village Cooperative managers. Head of the Defence Information Bureau, Brigadier General Rico Ricardo Sirait, stated that the name change is part of an evaluation following the deaths of five participants during the basic military training. “Going forward, this activity will be called State Defence and Managerial Training, no longer using the term Latsarmil,” he said in a statement on Monday, 29 June 2026. According to him, the nomenclature change aims to clarify the main objectives of the training. He said the physically oriented activities are designed to build character, discipline, leadership, teamwork, responsibility, and managerial readiness. “So, to clarify that the goal of this training is not to form military capabilities,” the one-star general said. In addition, the Ministry of Defence has decided to reduce the intensity of military-style physical and tactical activities. Rico said that for the remainder of the implementation period, basic military training will be limited to instilling discipline and basic fitness, including morning exercises, roll calls, marching drills, environmental orientation, and light field activities. The first wave of the basic military training took place from 17 June to 31 July 2026 with a total of 35,476 participants. They consisted of 30,000 prospective managers of the Red and White Village Cooperatives and 5,476 prospective managers of the Red and White Fishermen’s Villages. However, five participants died within the first ten days of the programme. They were Nola Dya Sari, Novia Rahmadhani Sihotang, Anisa Muyassaroh, Yonanda Muhammad Taufiq, and Muhammad Rifki Renaldi Gunawan.