Minister: Village Cooperative Programme Is a Strategic National Priority Deserving Collective Success

Jakarta — The Minister for Villages and Disadvantaged Region Development (Mendes PDT), Yandri Susanto, has stated that the Village Cooperative (Kopdes) Merah Putih represents a strategic national programme worthy of collective implementation across the nation.

“We assert that the Village Cooperative Merah Putih is a strategic national programme that indeed deserves our joint success,” said Minister Yandri in Jakarta on Tuesday.

He made these remarks whilst discussing with journalists during a breaking-of-fast gathering at his official residence in Jakarta on Monday evening, 16 March.

The minister outlined several reasons justifying the programme’s collective pursuit, notably that the cooperative’s business surplus would be returned to village communities for continued management.

“The business surplus, that is 100 percent returned to villages, particularly to poor communities in the first through fifth deciles,” said the former Deputy Chairman of the People’s Consultative Assembly.

Minister Yandri also stressed that Kopdes Merah Putih aims to absorb rural community production. In this vein, the minister emphasised the need to optimise the cooperative’s benefits, including by restricting new modern retail licensing in villages.

According to him, such licensing restrictions are implemented to ensure healthy economic movement in villages, given that modern retail profits are not returned to communities.