Dewi Tenty: Kopdes Merah Putih Violates the Principles of Cooperatives

Dewi Tenty and Eddy Wijaya. (doc. EdShareOn)

JAKARTA - Dewi Tenty Septi Artiany cooperative observer observed that the Red and White Village Cooperative (Kopdes) government program has not implemented cooperative principles, in accordance with the provisions of the International Cooperative Alliance, an international cooperative association established in 1895.

These principles have been adopted by Indonesia into Law No. 25 of 1992 concerning Cooperatives. One of the principles is the issue of its membership system which is voluntary and open.

As of August 5, 2026, based on data on the official simkopdes.go.id website, the number of members who have been activated reached 2.5 million people, which are included in more than 83 thousand kopdes throughout Indonesia. Tens of thousands of kopdes were launched in the middle of last year, with a budget of around Rp. 3 billion per cooperative.

"My question is, how many people are volunteering to join (the kopdes)?", Dewi said when talking to Eddy Wijaya in the EdShareOn podcast which aired on Wednesday, August 5, 2026.

Likewise, the implementation of the second principle, namely its independent and democratic management - where the decisions taken by the cooperative are the result of the largest vote. However, this does not apply to Kopdes Merah Putih.

Dewi explained that a number of things related to Kopdes had even been decided before this program took place. Whether it was its appointment, its meaning and activities, its KBLI (Indonesian Business Field Crude Classification), and also the signs for its managers and supervisors.

"So where is the democracy? I want it, the democracy is when this cooperative has become a legal entity, which is now, and then there will be democratic management. We'll just wait," he said, who works as a notary. As for independence, cooperatives must be independent or free from intervention. The supervision is called Dewi, it should be carried out by the government in this case the relevant ministry, not the head of the village or village head as a kopdes.

Dewi also highlighted the implementation of the third principle of cooperatives, namely the equitable distribution of the remaining business results (SHU), in accordance with the services or businesses of each member.

This principle has been discussed in the public space, considering that there is a Merah Putih Village Cooperative in Melawai, South Jakarta, which only recorded a profit or SHU of Rp. 78 thousand within six months after operating. Meanwhile, at the same time, the Melawai Kopkel manager has not received a fixed salary.

It went viral because the profit was considered too small for a retail business unit, especially since the capital for the establishment of kopdes reached IDR 3 billion. According to Dewi, even though it is a cooperative, this business is still being formed to bring in results for its members.

"We don't want to work for free, but we are working to get profit according to our efforts," he said.

Regarding the education of cooperative education, Dewi also observed Kopdes. So far, the duration of training for prospective Kopdes Merah-Putih managers is 2 weeks for state/discipline training, and 4 weeks for managerial education and modern cooperative management.

Dewi explained that cooperative training should focus on teaching about improving skills and performance, cooperative governance, and increasing initiatives for member addition and kaderization.

Referring to the implementation in the field, Dewi assessed that the Red-White Kopdes did not apply the principles of cooperatives. "It's not that it's not in accordance (with the principles), but all the cooperative principles seem to be violated (by the kopdes). The cooperative principles of the kopdes do not follow the rules," he said.

"There is a mismatch between what he wants, what the practice/implementation is like."

Ideal Red-White Kopdes Absorbs Local ProductsDewi Tenty and Eddy Wijaya. (doc. EdShareOn)

The function of the red-and-white village cooperative as a distributor of subsidies and off-takers of agricultural products is said to make the concept different from most retail minimarkets. However, in practice, the plan has not been fully implemented in the field.

It was widely circulated, a video showing a kopdes whose shop window displays products similar to retail minimarkets, rather than selling the results of local farmers and ranchers to stimulate the local economy.

Dewi Tenty Cooperative Observer Septi Artiany said that cooperatives should provide a large portion for local products. He gave an example of the development of cooperatives in Japan and India which focuses on the promotion of local products, whether it is agriculture, livestock, or fisheries.

"The focus of the sector (products sold by kopdes) can be different in each location. If what is happening now, kopdes are confused about what to sell, so the outlet is filled with industrial products," he told Eddy Wijaya in the EdShareOn podcast which aired on Wednesday, August 5, 2026. "Does it mean that you actually want to improve the industry or promote local products?"

Even if the packaging or processing of the product is still not good or not professional, then this is the task of the Ministry of Industry to help develop it.

"So it can be like Japan, the ministry will go down according to its capacity in advancing cooperatives. Not only the Ministry of Industry, but also the Ministry of Tourism and Komdigi can help promote local products distributed by Kopdes," he said.

Unfortunately, until now, the government has not been proactive in synergizing local products with existing large programs. In the Free Nutritious Food program, for example, the packaged liquid milk used is industrial production, instead of a large cooperative milk product.

In fact, if this method is implemented and is running well, the distribution of local products can also be distributed through the kopdes network to other regions. "But now we see that the sales are like ordinary minimarkets. So it's far from expectations," said Dewi.

Who is Eddy Wijaya, this is his profile

Eddy Wijaya is a podcaster born on August 17, 1972. Through the YouTube account @EdShareOn, Eddy interviewed many national figures ranging from state officials, legal experts, political experts, national politicians, to local celebrities.

The man with a right cheek dimple is also a nationalist who is an activist for the marginalized and social observers by helping the community through the Wijaya Peduli Bangsa Foundation.

He is also active in the field of sports by serving as the Chairman of the Indonesian Equestrian Sports Association (Pordasi) Pacu and also served as Deputy General Chairman of the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) East Jakarta.

Eddy also served as an Advisory Board of the Indonesian Chinese Social Marga Association, 2022-2026 term of office. His ideas were formed because of his hard work to be independent from the age of 13 to be successful as he is now. For Eddy, the working world is not as smooth as imagined, failure and rejection are common. This is what makes him hold fast to the tagline "Success is only a matter of time". (ADV)