Jakarta – President Prabowo Subianto simultaneously inaugurated 1,061 Red and White Village Cooperatives (Kopdes Merah Putih) in Nganjuk Regency. The inauguration was seen as a major step in strengthening the village-based people’s economy.
In his remarks, Prabowo called the launch of thousands of cooperatives a historic milestone for village economic development in Indonesia. He emphasized that the program was successfully implemented in less than a year since its inception.
“Today is an important day, a historic milestone,” Prabowo said. He noted that no government had ever inaugurated more than a thousand cooperatives simultaneously with complete operational facilities.
Prabowo explained that the initial target for the inaugurated cooperatives was 1,300. However, the government ultimately decided to inaugurate only those cooperatives that were truly ready to operate.
“Today we are inaugurating the operation of 1,061 cooperatives. We originally wanted to inaugurate 1,300 or so, but I said just 1,000 is enough,” he said.
He also briefly touched on the choice of the number 1,061, which he said was related to his favorite number.
“If one and six are seven, seven and one are eight,” Prabowo said, greeted by laughter from the audience.
However, Prabowo emphasized that the most important thing is not just the number of cooperatives, but the speed of program implementation.
“The point is that we established the cooperatives from concept to realization in less than a year,” he said.
According to Prabowo, the cooperatives that were inaugurated were not only administratively established, but also had buildings, warehouses, distribution systems, operational vehicles, and logistical support.
He also revealed that more than 9,000 cooperative buildings had been physically ready in less than a year.
Meanwhile, the Regional Secretary of Lampung Province, Marindo Kurniawan, attended the virtual inauguration of the Merah Putih Way Halim Village/Sub-district Cooperative in Bandar Lampung.
He said the Lampung Provincial Government supports the acceleration of cooperative development through the utilization of regional assets.
“The Lampung Provincial Government, together with the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI), is ensuring that government assets that have not yet been fully utilized can be utilized to support the accelerated establishment of the Merah Putih Cooperative,” said Marindo.
Meanwhile, the Commander of the XXI/Radin Inten Military Command, Kristomei Sianturi, stated that 41 Merah Putih Village/Sub-district Cooperatives were inaugurated in Lampung and Bengkulu on the same day. As of May 16, 2026, the XXI/Radin Inten Military Command had completed the construction of 562 cooperatives.
“We are continuing to achieve our target. We hope to have 600 cooperatives fully completed by the end of May or at the latest by the beginning of June,” said Kristomei.