Red and White Cooperative as President Prabowo’s Strategic Program for Economic Strengthening
By: Cahyo Widjaya
President Prabowo Subianto has firmly made the Red and White Cooperative one of the main pillars in the national economic strengthening strategy. Through a people-based approach, this program not only offers an institutional structure at the grassroots level, but also becomes a concrete path for the government to reorganize the distribution of goods and services in order to create economic justice that is much more evenly distributed throughout the country.
In a limited meeting at the Merdeka Palace, President Prabowo Subianto encouraged the acceleration of the formation of cooperatives, both at the village and sub-district levels. The main goal of the Head of State is to shorten the supply chain of basic necessities for all people in the country.
Through the Red and White Cooperative, the state intends to reduce the dominant role of middlemen, loan sharks, and illegal online lenders who have so far actually created economic distortion at the lower level.
This initiative shows the strong political determination of President Prabowo to be able to end the structural inequality that clearly hinders the welfare of rural communities.
Zulkifli Hasan, Coordinating Minister for Food, emphasized that the process of forming cooperatives is taking place progressively. As of May 8, 2025, there were 9,835 Red and White Village/Sub-district Cooperatives that had been successfully formed. This number continues to increase every day, which reflects the positive response from various regions to the Head of State’s policy direction.
The Coordinating Minister for Food also highlighted the role of cooperatives in restructuring goods distribution channels. By making cooperatives the official intermediary for the distribution of fertilizers, LPG gas, and basic necessities, the state is trying to ensure supply efficiency while reducing logistics costs.
It turns out that the Red and White Cooperatives do not only carry out trading functions, but are also optimized as financial service agents such as BRI Link and BNI Link, which can directly touch the community.
In strengthening the sustainability of the program, the government has formed the Red and White Cooperative Task Force under the coordination of the Coordinating Minister for Food. This task force is tasked with ensuring how the implementation of cooperatives in the field continues to run according to plan, starting from the mentoring stage, training, to healthy financial management.
This step clearly indicates that the state is not only forming cooperatives as a mere symbol, but also as a productive business entity integrated into the national economic system.
The acceleration of the establishment of cooperatives became even more significant when the government set October 28, 2025 as the target for a national launch. Approaching that date, the government facilitated affordable access to financing with a credit ceiling of IDR 3 billion per cooperative.
The funds were not only given as grants, but also as business capital that was managed professionally with an installment scheme from the State-Owned Bank Association (Himbara).
This approach increasingly shows the spirit of independence that is the core of the cooperative itself. Cooperatives, which in fact function as people’s business institutions, are not only equipped with financial facilities, but are also equipped with the responsibility and trust to be able to manage capital healthily. Then later, every profit generated will be used to pay off loans, while simultaneously increasing business capacity sustainably.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Mayor of Padang, Maigus Nasir, saw the presence of President Prabowo’s strategic program, namely the Red and White Cooperative, as proof of the central government’s great attention to the local economy.
While accompanying the working visit of Deputy Minister of Cooperatives Ferry Juliantono to Balai Gadang Village, Maigus assessed that the synergy between the central and regional governments in building cooperatives would be an important catalyst for the economic growth of the community.
Ferry Juliantono himself emphasized that the establishment of the Red and White Cooperative is a direct implementation of Presidential Instruction (Inpres) Number 9 of 2025. According to him, this program is designed to form a cooperative network that reaches all villages and sub-districts in Indonesia.
As of May 28, 2025, 60,806 units have been formed from a total target of 83,944 units. The government is targeting all cooperatives to be completed before the launch on July 12, 2025, coinciding with the commemoration of National Cooperative Day.
The Red and White Cooperative does not stop at just the function of savings and loans or distribution of basic necessities. Each cooperative is directed to manage seven main business units including pharmacies, clinics, procurement of basic necessities, warehousing or cold storage, logistics, as well as service offices and financial units.
