General Soedirman's 'Divine Inspiration' Strengthens the Red and White Village Cooperative
The Red and White Village Cooperative (KDKMP) programme, recently described by the Minister of Cooperatives as a ‘divine inspiration’ (wangsit) received by President Prabowo Subianto from his parents, should not be understood as something mystical. In the life of the nation, such inspiration is born from the history of struggle, intellectual tradition, and the experience of building the state. What is most important is not the term itself, but how that inspiration is manifested into public policy based on Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution, the rule of law, good governance, and respect for human rights.
Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution positions cooperatives as the embodiment of economic democracy. Therefore, the KDKMP must be positioned as an instrument for empowering the people’s economy, strengthening farmers, fishermen, and micro, small, and medium enterprises, as well as reinforcing national food security and economic independence. The implementation of KDKMP through Presidential Instruction No. 9 of 2025 and Presidential Instruction No. 17 of 2025 represents an important step in accelerating cross-ministerial and local government coordination. However, if KDKMP is to be directed towards becoming a national ecosystem integrating financing, logistics, data, distribution, and public economic services, a more comprehensive regulatory framework through a Presidential Regulation is needed to provide legal certainty, accountable governance, and policy sustainability.
This direction of strengthening has deep historical roots. The Hatta-Margono Economic Committee of 1947 laid the foundation for people’s economic financing. General Soedirman’s people’s logistics strategy in 1948 established the village as the basis of national resilience. In 1952, Prof. Soemitro Djojohadikusumo initiated the formation of the State Planning Council as an effort to build a tradition of development planning based on science, data, and professionalism. This idea evolved through the National Planning Council (Depernas) established by Law No. 80 of 1958, the precursor to Bappenas, and was further enriched through the Planned Universal National Development Pattern of 1960, which placed cooperatives, rural development, and the people’s economy as integral parts of national development.
Thus, KDKMP is not an idea born without historical roots. It is a long chain of the evolution of Indonesian economic thought—from the 1947 Economic Committee, General Soedirman’s 1948 logistics strategy, Prof. Soemitro Djojohadikusumo’s 1952 ideas, the 1958 Depernas, to the 1960 Planned Universal National Development Pattern—all culminating in the implementation of the mandate of Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution.
Recommendations:
Support President Prabowo Subianto in issuing a Presidential Regulation on the Constitutional Governance of KDKMP as a constitutional codification that synthesises these five historical links into a comprehensive national policy framework. This Presidential Regulation is expected to become a legacy policy for people’s economic development, providing legal certainty, institutional direction, and governance sustainability for KDKMP.
Affirm in the Presidential Regulation four pillars of KDKMP governance: sustainable national financing, strengthening of civilian logistics and food reserves, professional and accountable cooperative governance, and strengthening the cooperative function in the distribution and absorption of people’s production in accordance with the mandate of Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution.
Support the House of Representatives in immediately passing the Bill on One Data Indonesia as a House initiative bill in a plenary session so that it can enter discussion with the Government. This law is important as the foundation for Indonesia’s data and digital sovereignty, as well as the basis for developing One Data for Indonesian Cooperatives, which guarantees data interoperability, evidence-based policy, personal data protection, effective supervision, and the transparent, targeted, and sustainable implementation of KDKMP.
The ‘divine inspiration’ of Prof. Soemitro and General Soedirman, and all the nation’s founders, regarding village cooperatives is not a myth. The Red and White Village Cooperative represents the courage to make the village a bastion of the Republic and cooperatives the pillar of the national economy. History provides direction, and the constitution provides legitimacy.