President Prabowo Subianto launched the institutional establishment of 80,081 Red-and-White Cooperatives (Koperasi Merah Putih) across the nation’s villages and urban neighborhoods, marking a major leap in Indonesia’s grassroots economic reform agenda.

Speaking before national and regional leaders, state-owned enterprise executives, and thousands of village heads gathered in Bentangan Village, Klaten, Central Java, the president described the moment as a historic breakthrough in Indonesia’s long struggle for economic justice.

“Cooperatives are tools of the weak. But when united, the weak become strong. This is a movement to end exploitation, to break the chains of poverty that have long trapped our farmers and rural communities,” Prabowo said in his keynote address on Monday, July 21, 2025.

The cooperatives will serve as community-based economic institutions offering a wide array of services − from savings and loans, fertilizer and seed distribution, and local product marketing, to health services, cold storage, and digital literacy programs. Each cooperative will be fully owned and operated by local citizens, supported by government capital and professional mentorship.

President Prabowo emphasized that the initiative stems from the constitutional mandate in Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution, which affirms that sectors impacting the livelihoods of many must be controlled by the state and benefit the people directly.

He criticized the role of powerful rice millers and large-scale distributors who, according to the government’s data, have profited unfairly at the expense of farmers.

“Some of these millers made profits up to US$125 million per month. That’s not business, that’s predatory behavior,” he said.

The president warned that if large agricultural players continue to violate regulations and manipulate food prices, he would not hesitate to use legal authority to seize their assets and hand them over to the cooperatives.

“I asked the Supreme Court − is our Constitution the highest law? They said yes. So if they defy the law, we will act,” he said.

Prabowo revealed that Indonesia loses up toUS$6.2 billion every year due to price manipulation and misdistribution in the agriculture and food sector — a figure he referred to as "economic sabotage." He noted that if redirected properly, these lost funds could finance the renovation of over 100,000 schools across Indonesia.

“Our Ministry of Finance currently struggles to renovate just 11,000 schools with a budget of $1.2 billion. If we had that $6.2 billion back, we could fix every school in the country within three years,” he said.

Message to the greedy

Coining the term “serakahnomics” (economics of greed), President Prabowo condemned a handful of business elites who exploit the food supply chain and manipulate subsidies, saying they act like “economic vampires who drain the blood of the people.”

“This is not liberalism, socialism, or market economics. This is just plain greed. And we must stop it. I have warned them, and now we act,” he said.

He instructed the Attorney General and the National Police Chief to investigate and prosecute those manipulating rice prices and misusing food subsidies.

National unity and institutional support

The launch event was attended by top officials including House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Puan Maharani, Regional Representatives (DPD) Speaker Sultan Najamudin, and several ministers. Also present were CEOs of major state-owned companies such as Pertamina, Telkomsel, Kimia Farma, and Pos Indonesia, as well as leaders of Himbara (State) banks (Bank Mandiri, BRI, BNI, and Bank Syariah Indonesia).

Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs, Syarif Hasan, and Minister of Cooperatives, Budi Arie Setiadi, affirmed that the cooperatives will receive long-term institutional and financial support. Many regional leaders and village heads also participated via video conference.

President Prabowo closed his speech with a reminder that true independence goes beyond flags and parliaments − it means economic freedom.

“A free nation is one that feeds its people. A dignified country is one where no child goes hungry,” he said, while noting that his government’s free nutritious meals program for schoolchildren had only reached 6.7 million students so far.

“We are not moving fast enough. But with the right resources and policies, we will feed every child and lift up every village,” he said.

The Red-and-White Cooperatives, he said, represent not only a tool of economic empowerment, but a national movement to reclaim sovereignty from predatory capital and ensure dignity for all Indonesians − from the most remote villages to the urban poor.