Red and White Cooperative's Realization Has Not Yet Reached Target

President Prabowo Subianto initiated the Merah Putih Village Cooperative (Kopdes) program, aiming to establish 80,000 units across Indonesia. These cooperatives are scheduled to commence operations on July 19, 2025.

According to data from the Ministry of Finance, as posted on Instagram by Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, funding for the Merah Putih Kopdes had reached 72,112 units as of July 2, 2025.

While Sri Mulyani hasn't disclosed the actual amount disbursed for the Merah Putih Kopdes, the program is intended to fund village development and MSMEs (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises).

The realized disbursement of People's Business Credit (KUR) reached Rp131.2 trillion in June 2025. Meanwhile, village fund disbursement for village development amounted to Rp38.1 trillion.

Sri Mulyani also reported that financing for the Merah Putih Kopdes, through the state budget (APBN), was allocated at Rp200 trillion as of June 3, 2025.

Data recorded by Databoks as of Monday, June 23, 2025, at 9:10 AM WIB, shows that 80,319 villages in Indonesia have established Merah Putih Kopdes through special meetings.

Of the 38 provinces, Central Java has the highest number of villages that have formed Merah Putih Cooperatives, with 8,563 villages. This is followed by East Java and Aceh with 8,494 and 6,496 villages respectively.

Claimed as a solution to mass layoffs

According to Katadata news, the Minister of Cooperatives, Budi Arie Setiadi, stated that the Merah Putih Kopdes will be a solution to the wave of layoffs since the beginning of this year. The program is expected to create 2 million jobs starting this year.

Budi Arie claims that the operation of the Merah Putih Kopdes can create new economic sources from the grassroots. This is possible because the cooperative's nature will consolidate the production capacity of small producers.

"The Merah Putih Kopdes, if necessary, will have processing facilities up to downstream products. For example, a Merah Putih Kopdes in the palm oil sector will not only sell fresh fruit bunches but, if necessary, will also process it into cooking oil," said Budi Arie at the Ministry of Manpower office on Tuesday, July 1, 2025.

He believes that consolidation within the cooperatives will strengthen the bargaining position of small producers in the national market. Larger production volumes will enable the Merah Putih Kopdes to become a new economic force in the regions.

(Read: Merah Putih Cooperative Gets the Biggest Budget Allocation from APBN in 2025)