Father: I'd like a consultation
Poki: Please go ahead, let's start with who you are.
Father: It's like this, I'm an Indonesian citizen.
Poli: Wow, that a pretty heavy problem!
Father: So, I'm asking for a solution.
Poki: Hmm, a moment, I'm waiting for a divine inspiration.
Minister of Cooperatives Ferry Juliantono has revealed that during a limited cabinet meeting in March 2025 President Prabowo Subianto told him that he received a "divine revelation" to establish Red and White Village/Sub-district Cooperatives (KDKMP) throughout Indonesia.
Juliantono related this while speaking at a national seminar on KDKMPs that was broadcast on the Ministry of Villages and Development of Disadvantaged Regions YouTube channel on July 16.
According to Juliantono, Prabowo explained that he received a "divine revelation" to establish cooperatives in all villages and sub-districts in Indonesia.
"He said I received a divine revelation that I wanted to establish village and sub-district cooperatives throughout Indonesia", Juliantono quoted the president as saying.
Juliantono was quick however to emphasise that term "divine revelation" was not groundless, stating that the idea has an academic basis, referring to a Universal Development Plan document from 1947-1959.
"The Universal Development Plan mentions development oriented towards rural areas. The term village cooperative can also be found in the document", said Juliantono.
Earlier, Prabowo explained the government's reasons for not preparing an academic paper or conducting a pilot project before launching the cooperatives program, which has been widely criticised for being poorly planned, lacking transparency and over the recent deaths of five prospective cooperative managers while undergoing basic military training at Indonesian Military (TNI) facilities in several locations.
Speaking at the 79th Cooperatives Day Commemoration at the Indonesia Arena in Jakarta on July 12, Prabowo said that the proposed academic paper would have taken around eight months, while the pilot project in 100 villages would have taken approximately two years.
According to Prabowo, if all these stages were carried out before national implementation, the formation of cooperatives in approximately 81,000 villages and sub-districts could have taken up to eight years.
Prabowo asserted that the public could not wait that long and the government had therefore chosen to accelerate the program's implementation so the economic benefits could be felt immediately by rural communities.
[Based on an abridged translation by James Balowski of an article by Inews Bojonegoro titled Tanpa Penelitian dan Naskah Akademik, Menkop: Prabowo Putuskan Program KDMP Berdasarkan Wangsit.]
