Minister Reports Progress of 'Red and White' Village Cooperatives at National Cooperative Day

Minister of Cooperatives Ferry Juliantono reported the latest developments of the Red and White Village/Sub-district Cooperative (KDKMP) programme at the peak of the 79th National Cooperative Day (Harkopnas) commemoration at Indonesia Arena, Gelora Bung Karno (GBK), Jakarta, on Sunday. In his report, Ferry stated that 83,000 Red and White Village Cooperatives have obtained legal entity status. Of that number, 15,845 units have had their physical buildings, including warehouses and retail outlets, fully completed. A further 19,539 Red and White Village Cooperatives are currently under construction. The total of 35,000 cooperatives is targeted for completion alongside the training programme for KDKMP managers, scheduled for early August. Ferry expressed hope that President Prabowo Subianto would officially inaugurate the operations of the Red and White Village Cooperatives in August. He noted that this achievement was the result of efforts by various parties to help cooperatives catch up with other business entities. Ferry assessed this strategic move not merely as a routine programme, but as a translation of the President’s grand idea to revive the grassroots economy through equitable capital circulation. He also mentioned that, under the President’s direction, cooperatives are now permitted to participate in natural resource management, including managing community oil wells, mineral mining, and establishing a CPO factory. A CPO factory managed by a cooperative is set to be inaugurated in Musi Banyuasin, South Sumatra, in August, along with a solar power plant in Sembulang Laut, Galang Baru Island, Riau Islands. President Prabowo Subianto, in his address, emphasised that strengthening cooperatives would not weaken other economic sectors, advocating for an ‘Indonesia Incorporated’ spirit where all elements grow together. He noted that the economy had been overly dominated by neoliberal ideas for 30 years, contrary to the 1945 Constitution, and the government is committed to returning to the economic path designed by the nation’s founders. Meanwhile, Chairman of the Indonesian Cooperative Council (Dekopin) Bambang Haryadi stated that the stigma of cooperatives being an outdated economic system must be broken, citing European football clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich, as well as Rabobank, as examples of successful cooperative-managed entities.