Menkop Make Sure The Program Outside The Red And White Kopdes Continues

Minister of Cooperatives (Menkop) Ferry Juliantono. (Doc. Kemenkop)

Minister of Cooperatives (Menkop) Ferry Juliantono conveyed several achievements of the Ministry of Cooperatives (Kemenkop) strategic programs that have been carried out in the 1 year period of President Prabowo Subianto - Gibran Rakabuming Raka's administration.

Apart from the Village/Sub-District Cooperative (Kopdes/Kel) Merah Putih program, Kemenkop also focuses on several excellent programs. One of its achievements is the success of uniting the dualism of the Indonesian Cooperative Council (Dekopin) organization. With the unity of Dekopin, it is hoped that it can accelerate the national cooperative movement to become a Soko Guru of the National Economy.

"We have 16 work programs where some have been implemented and others are being or have not been implemented," said Ferry, Saturday, October 25.

Ferry Juliantono stated that he would continue to make maximum efforts to implement several established priority programs such as downstream oil palm products through Cooperatives, the establishment of Special Bank Cooperatives, facilitation of the establishment of cooperatives for online motorcycle taxis to the revitalization of the Indonesian Cooperative Institute (IKOPIN) as the center for producing professional cooperative movement cadres.

"We want the Indonesian Cooperative Institute to return to being the birthplace of strong and adaptive cooperative drivers against the challenges of the times," said Ferry.

The Coordinating Minister reiterated that Cooperatives must rise up to create a just economic system. So far, the economic system is more inclined to the neoliberal so that all trading mechanisms are left to the free market.

"This is the first time that the President has a very large political will regarding cooperatives, he (Prabowo Subianto) has a great desire to restore the ideology of the Pancasila economy," he said.

No less generally, said Ferry, is the program to accelerate the operationalization of 80,000 units of the Red and White Kopdes/Kel. As one of the national strategic programs that President Prabowo Subianto has always monitored, the Red and White Kopdes/Kel are targeted to be fully operational by March 2026.

Ferry said that the Red and White Villages Cooperative has three functions, namely distributing goods and basic necessities at affordable prices. Then, as an offtaker to improve the economy of rural communities such as farmers, fishermen, craftsmen. Finally, as the closest instrument to the community in supporting government programs such as Social Assistance, BLT, etc.

"We have started a number of concrete steps to strengthen the national cooperative movement. One of them is by preparing to operate around 80,000 Kopdes spread throughout Indonesia," said Ferry.

Until the overall operational stage, efforts are being made to accelerate physical development in the form of warehouses and outlets and other supporting facilities in each Kopdes/Kel Merah Putih. This is needed because the majority of Kopdes/Kel do not have it so that the operational process is hampered.

"The President's directive in the plenary cabinet meeting is very clear: the operational target of the Kopdes must be ready to be implemented. Therefore, we want to ensure that all supporting infrastructure such as storage warehouses and service outlets are completed soon," he added.

As an effort to ensure that all targets can run well and according to the timeline, Menkop Ferry invites all parties including the mass media to support the construction program for the Kopdes/Kel Merah Putih outlets and warehouses. Currently, around 5,000 points are being built and efforts will be made to be added every day.

"If it is calculated to be withdrawn from March 2026, it means that at the end of November or the end of December all land points in villages and sub-districts in Indonesia must have started to be built outlets and warehouses so that they can be operated immediately," said the Minister of Cooperatives Ferry.

Menkop is optimistic that if the operation of Kopdes/Kel Merah Putih can run well, then villages in Indonesia will experience sustainable economic growth. This will further strengthen the belief that the economic growth target set at 8 percent can be achieved in the future.

Once Kopdes operates, it will grow and develop on its own. This is what we call self-propelled growth," he said.