House Commission I Demands Halt to Military Training for Cooperative Managers After Five Deaths

A member of House Commission I from the National Awakening Party (PKB) faction, Oleh Soleh, has urged the Ministry of Defence to halt the implementation of Military Basic Training (Latsarmil) for prospective managers of the Kopdes Merah Putih village cooperatives and fishing villages under the 2026 Sarjana Penggerak Pembangunan Indonesia (SPPI) programme. Soleh stated that the deaths of five SPPI participants should be grounds for suspending the programme. The latest victim was Nola Dya Sari, who was undergoing Latsarmil at the State Defence Education Unit in Kalimantan. Four other participants who died were Yonanda Muhammad Taufiq on 17 June 2026, Anisa Muyassaroh on 18 June 2026, Novia Rahmadhani Sihotang on 22 June 2026, and Muhammad Rifki Renaldi Gunawan on 25 June 2026. Soleh described the deaths of the five prospective Kopdes Merah Putih managers as a very serious matter. He urged the Ministry of Defence to conduct an evaluation and suspend the SPPI programme. ‘Do not take the loss of human life lightly. Therefore, I urge the Ministry of Defence to temporarily halt the implementation of Latsarmil and conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the programme,’ Soleh said in a statement on Sunday. According to Soleh, the Ministry of Defence must not trivialise the lives of the participants who died. He said they were the nation’s best sons and daughters who had the spirit to contribute to the community’s economic development through the Kopdes Merah Putih programme. ‘They are children of the nation who fought to support the success of the Kopdes Merah Putih programme by registering as prospective managers. Therefore, every incident that causes loss of life must be taken seriously and should not be considered ordinary,’ he said. Soleh also called for a total overhaul of the coaching and training system provided to prospective Kopdes managers. He argued that the training approach must be adapted to the background of the participants, who are civilians, not military personnel. ‘There must be a total evaluation and improvement of the coaching and training patterns provided. They are civilians, so the physical training should not be too strenuous. They are not soldiers, and their physical capabilities are certainly not the same as soldiers who have undergone military education,’ he said. Furthermore, Soleh stressed that the main objective of the SPPI and Kopdes Merah Putih programmes is to prepare human resources capable of managing cooperatives and driving village economic development. Therefore, the safety and health of participants must be the top priority at every stage of training. ‘The Ministry of Defence must conduct a comprehensive evaluation, transparently reveal the causes of the participants’ deaths, and ensure that similar incidents do not recur in the future,’ Soleh concluded.