Prabowo: 81,000 Red and White Village Cooperatives Could Absorb 1 Million Workers

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - President Prabowo Subianto estimates that the 81,000 Red and White Village Cooperatives to be built across Indonesia could employ or absorb up to more than one million workers.

“Red and White Cooperatives will number 81,000. One cooperative employs 18 people, 80,000 times 18, you calculate it yourself, it’s over one million,” said Prabowo during the groundbreaking of the strategic downstreaming project in Cilacap, Central Java, on Wednesday (29/4/2026).

The Red and White Village Cooperatives are currently opening recruitment for managers. The large-scale recruitment is opening approximately 30,000 manager positions nationwide in 2026.

The KDMP manager recruitment officially opens from 15 April to 24 April 2026 via the official portal phtc.panselnas.go.id, open to D4/S1 graduates from all majors with a maximum age of 35 years.

He also stated that the government will inaugurate 1,000 Red and White Cooperatives in the next two or three weeks. This was revealed by the President during the Groundbreaking of 13 Phase II Downstreaming Projects in Cilacap, Central Java.

According to Prabowo, he will also inaugurate 25,000 Red and White Cooperatives in the two or three weeks following that.

“Soon we will inaugurate 1,000 Red and White Cooperatives, possibly in 2-3 weeks, then in 2-3 months we will inaugurate 25,000 cooperatives,” said Prabowo.

Prabowo also claimed that only Indonesia is capable of building thousands of successful cooperatives in one year. No other country in the world has done this.

“Try looking through history, I ask you to look through world history. Is there any instance of 25,000 or 30,000 cooperatives being built and completed in one year?” he said.