President Prabowo pushes Red‑and‑White Village Cooperatives across Indonesia

President Prabowo Subianto has made the Red‑and‑White Village Cooperative (Koperasi Desa/Kelurahan Merah Putih) the centerpiece of his rural‑development agenda. He announced a target of 81,000 cooperatives nationwide, with 83,000 already legally registered and 15,845 fully built. The government projects the cooperatives will circulate between Rp 223 trillion and Rp 233 trillion a year, channeling subsidies, providing village‑level services such as grocery stores, savings‑loan units, pharmacies, warehouses and cold‑storage, and buying produce directly from farmers and fishers at fair prices. Training for cooperative managers is slated for July, with operational launches planned for August and a goal of 40,000 active cooperatives by the end of 2026.

The programme is highlighted during the 79th National Cooperative Day, where Prabowo also welcomed visits from Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko, Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, underscoring Indonesia’s growing diplomatic clout. Local implementations are underway, including 18 new cooperative outlets in Jayawijaya (Papua Pegunungan), social‑aid activities in Rembang, and fuel‑price subsidies for fishermen. Together, these steps aim to revive the cooperative movement as a new engine of village‑level economic growth and to reduce reliance on predatory moneylenders.