Government Discusses Staffing Requirements for Red and White Village Cooperatives
The government is targeting approximately 30,000 Red and White Village Cooperatives to be established this year. State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi stated that the government requires personnel to execute the functions of these cooperatives.
“We need staff to carry out the cooperative functions,” he said after chairing a meeting with several ministers at the Defence Ministry office on Tuesday, 17 March 2026.
The President’s spokesman said the staffing requirements were discussed in today’s meeting with several ministers. This meeting was a directive from Prabowo to redesign civil service structures to meet personnel needs that will support national priority programmes, including the Red and White Village Cooperatives.
Prasetyo stated that each ministry has already submitted its personnel requirements. However, he could not yet disclose the overall staffing figures as they remain fluid.
The Ministry of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform (KemenPAN-RB) has also requested local governments to map personnel requirements. The central government is currently conducting an audit of existing civil servants. “So we are currently seeking the convergence point,” he said.
According to Prasetyo, CASN recruitment will consider the state’s fiscal capacity. On this basis, CASN recruitment will employ a priority needs scheme, prioritising personnel requirements for government priority programmes.
“There may be certain priorities that we must fulfil first, because we must take into account the state’s fiscal capacity,” he said.
Today, several ministers from the Red and White Cabinet held a meeting at the Defence Ministry office in central Jakarta.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform Rini Widyantini, Minister of Basic and Secondary Education Abdul Mu’ti, Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Brian Yuliarto, Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, Minister of Interior Tito Karnavian, and Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin.
The meeting was also attended by Deputy Minister of Cooperatives Farida Farichah, Head of the State Personnel Agency (BKN) Zudan Arif Fakrulloh, and Head of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti.
The Defence Ministry previously planned to recruit 30,000 Indonesian development graduate activists (SPPI) to manage the Red and White Village Cooperatives. These thousands of SPPI will serve as staff for 80,000 cooperatives targeted to begin operations in August this year.
“The government is targeting the recruitment and training of approximately 30,000 development activists through the support of the Defence Ministry, the military and police,” said Deputy Defence Minister Donny Ermawan Taufanto in a meeting to accelerate the Red and White Village Cooperatives programme, as stated in the Defence Ministry’s official statement on Thursday, 12 March 2026.
The Head of the Information Bureau and Public Relations of the Defence Ministry Secretariat, Brigadier General Rico Ricardo Sirait, explained that SPPI recruitment for the Red and White Village Cooperatives is open to the public. All graduates and postgraduates from all disciplines can apply as prospective leaders in these cooperatives.
“Anyone can participate provided they meet the educational requirement of at least a bachelor’s degree,” said Rico when contacted on Friday, 13 March 2026.
Prospective SPPI applicants will undergo a selection and training process organised by the Defence Ministry. Those who succeed will occupy manager positions in the Red and White Village Cooperatives across various regions.
Rico stated that SPPI recruitment to fill positions in the Red and White Village Cooperatives is scheduled to begin in June 2026. “Currently, we are still in the stage of cross-ministry and agency coordination and preparation,” he said.