Prabowo Emphasizes Subsidized Goods will be Distributed through the Red and White Cooperative

President Prabowo Subianto (center) talks to the Chairman of the DPD RI Sultan Bachtiar Najamudin (left) after attending the 2026 MPR RI Annual Meeting and the Joint Meeting of the DPR-DPD RI at the Nusantara Building, Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta. (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - President Prabowo Subianto emphasized that the government would distribute subsidized goods through the Red and White Village/Neighborhood Cooperative (KDKMP) and ensure that government-subsidized products could not be traded freely.

According to Prabowo, the community needs to be strengthened through cooperatives that receive support and empowerment from the government so that with this scheme, the distribution of subsidized goods is expected to be more organized and targeted.

"Our people must be helped, we must organize, we must go through cooperatives, cooperatives that are assisted, strengthened, empowered. All subsidized goods will be distributed through the red and white cooperatives, so that subsidized goods cannot and cannot be traded," he said in the Annual Meeting of the Indonesian People's Consultative Assembly and the Joint Meeting of the Indonesian House of Representatives and the Indonesian DPD 2026, Friday, August 14.

He explained that subsidies come from the people's money so that the benefits must return to the target community, because goods that receive government subsidies should not be treated as free trade commodities.

"Subsidies are people's money, subsidized goods, subsidized by people's money for the people and not for trading," he said.

Prabowo assessed that the existence of the Red and White Village/Subdistrict Cooperative can be an instrument for the state to strengthen its control over the national supply chain.

He added that the government targets as many as 30,000 Red and White Village/Subdistrict Cooperatives to have been established and operating by the end of 2026.

"Our target by the end of 2026 must be 30,000 Red and White Village/Subdistrict Cooperatives standing and operating properly," he said.

According to Prabowo, through the cooperative network, the government can be more directly involved in the national supply chain, including in the distribution of subsidized goods.

"With the Merah Putih cooperative, for the first time in the history of the Republic of Indonesia, since we received sovereignty, for the first time the state will control its own supply chain so that we cannot be played by merchants who want to play with the market," he said.

However, Prabowo emphasized that the policy does not mean that the government is anti-market and recognizes that the market mechanism remains an important part of the national economy.

However, according to him, the government needs to ensure that market mechanisms are not abused by certain parties who have large capital power to manipulate or control the market.

"We are not anti-market, we cannot be anti-market. The economy is based on the movement of the market. But the market can be manipulated! The market can be damaged, the market can be regulated by those who control large capital," he concluded.