President Reveals Reason for Forming 'Merah Putih' Cooperatives: I Once Saw People Die of Starvation

President Prabowo Subianto has revealed his reasons for creating the Village/Sub-district ‘Merah Putih’ Cooperative (KDKMP) programme. The programme is considered one of the efforts to make the people prosperous. Prabowo admitted that he has long had the concept for KDKMP, even when he was still serving as a soldier. At that time, he often carried out duties in various regions of Indonesia and witnessed many people experiencing hardship. “When I was in the army, we served in villages, in the mountains. We could spend months in a sub-district. I saw there, I saw people starving, I saw people die of starvation,” he said in his speech at the peak of the 79th National Cooperative Day commemoration at the Indonesia Arena, Senayan, Jakarta, Sunday (12/7/2026). However, Prabowo could not do much to help the people at that time, as the available logistics were only sufficient to meet the needs of his troops. That experience made him think about improving the economy in villages, as villages play an important role in national development. He assessed that the only way to improve the economy in villages is to build cooperatives. However, building cooperatives in villages was considered ineffective without the support of power. “If a person’s capital is small or they have no capital, it is difficult to get credit anywhere. Now, when I became president, with the ministers, we are accelerating food self-sufficiency. We lowered the price of fertiliser. We raised the purchase price of unhusked rice, we guarantee it. Farmers’ yields have increased,” he said.