Dudung Says Training for Prospective Kopdes Managers Reduced to 1.5 Months

Presidential Chief of Staff General (Ret.) Dudung Abdurachman has stated that the training duration for participants of the Sarjana Penggerak Pembangunan Indonesia (SPPI) programme, who are destined to manage the Merah Putih Village Cooperatives (Kopdes) and Merah Putih Fishermen Cooperatives, has been shortened. He said the programme, which originally lasted two months, has now been reduced to one and a half months. “I received information that the time has been shortened, so it has been cut from two months to one and a half months,” Dudung said on Tuesday (30/6). He made the statement after paying his respects at the family home of the late M Rifki Renaldi, an SPPI participant who died during Basic Military Training (Latsarmil) in Sumedang Regency, West Java. Dudung emphasised that the implementation of physical training activities within the SPPI programme is now under a thorough evaluation. He stated that the training is now focused on cooperative management. “Because these are prospective managers, after all. That is the emphasis,” he said. He also expressed his deepest condolences on Rifki’s passing. Dudung, along with government and TNI officials, also handed over compensation to the family as a gesture of concern over the incident. “We came here to offer our deepest condolences on the passing of our son Rifki during the SPPI training. On behalf of the state, I am certainly here to offer my deepest condolences,” Dudung said. After speaking at the family home, Dudung and his entourage visited the deceased’s grave to pray and pay their final respects. The Latsarmil programme recently came under scrutiny following the deaths of five participants while undergoing the training process at TNI educational units. The five participants died from various health conditions, ranging from heat stroke and tuberculosis to cardiac arrest. Subsequently, Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the Latsarmil programme for prospective Merah Putih Cooperative managers. Most recently, the Ministry of Defence removed shooting practice from the Latsarmil curriculum. Brigadier General Rico Ricardo Sirait, Head of the Defence Information Bureau at the Ministry of Defence’s Secretariat General, stated that physical activities and training related to military exercises will be reduced.