Synergy between KPK and Government Guarantees Accountability of Red and White Village Cooperative
Jakarta — The government through the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs (Kemenkop UKM) continues to monitor accountability in the implementation of the national strategic program of the Red and White Village/Sub-district Cooperatives (Kopdes/Kel Merah Putih). In order to ensure that this program runs transparently and is free from corruption, Kemenkop has partnered with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) as a partner for supervision and education.
Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs, Budi Arie Setiadi, emphasized that this collaboration is very important considering the large scale of the program which will involve 80,000 village cooperatives throughout Indonesia.
“This is a national strategic program and its budget is large. So we ask for the assistance of the KPK to provide education, anti-corruption education for Kopdes/Kel Merah Putih managers, supervision, and risk mitigation,” Budi said in his statement.
He added that the presence of the KPK was not only as a supervisor after the program was running (ex-post), but as a strategic partner from the start of planning, to ensure clean and trustworthy cooperative governance.
“We want the KPK to be present from the start, not only as a supervisor, but also a strategic partner in building a prevention system. This is part of preventive governance,” he said.
To ensure maximum synergy, the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs proposed four concrete steps. First, the formation of the Red and White Kopdes Supervision Coordination Team between the Ministry of Cooperatives and the KPK.
“The aim is to develop an early warning system, map risk-prone areas, and design a community-based complaint mechanism,” he explained.
Second, the integration of the Kopdes/Kel Merah Putih reporting system with the KPK monitoring dashboard to create real-time transparency and risk-based audits.
Third, the provision of anti-corruption training and technical assistance for program implementers, notaries, and local stakeholders, in order to increase the capacity and accountability of cooperative managers.
Fourth, signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) or institutional cooperation agreement to strengthen cross-sector support on an ongoing basis.
“This synergy will also strengthen our coordination with the Kopdes/Kel Merah Putih National Task Force,” added Budi.
Furthermore, he emphasized that village cooperatives should become centers of local economic growth, not just administrative projects.
“The cooperatives that are formed are expected to grow as independent people’s business entities that have a real impact, not just administrative complements or temporary program channels,” he concluded.
