The Merah Putih Village Cooperative (KDMP) program initiated by President Prabowo Subianto is currently under sharp scrutiny. Ridwan Mahmudi, an economic and MSME observer from Strategy Cita Semesta, predicts that the viability of this business is vulnerable to collapse in less than a year. According to him, this failure stems from a top-down approach that ignores the basic principles of cooperative growth, which should emerge from the needs of the grassroots community.
Field issues are clearly visible in Bojonegoro Regency, East Java. A total of 54 KDMP outlets temporarily halted operations as a form of worker protest against contract uncertainty, management systems, and wages far below the Regency Minimum Wage (UMK). Data shows that the daily turnover of the outlets only ranges from IDR 100,000 to IDR 300,000, figures considered impossible to cover monthly operational costs, including employee payroll and logistics needs.
The Head of Campurejo Village, Edi Susanto, revealed that the recruitment process for workers seemed haphazard and lacked a formal regulatory basis. He highlighted that without location feasibility studies, many KDMP outlets were set up in quiet areas with minimal customer traffic. This condition is worsened by unclear goods distribution and a lack of integration with the existing village economic ecosystem, even though the initial capital of this cooperative was sourced from deductions from the Village Fund.
Responding to this issue, PT Agrinas Pangan Nusantara, as the operator, stated that they are conducting a comprehensive evaluation of the payroll system and outlet management. The company emphasized its commitment to rectifying data discrepancies to guarantee the rights of personnel across the 1,061 outlets already operating in Central Java and East Java.
On the other hand, the Minister of Cooperatives, Ferry Juliantono, mentioned that the KDMP business model is still in the refinement stage. The government maintains an ambitious target for tens of thousands of cooperatives to be fully operational by next August. However, critics continue to urge transparency and data-driven evaluation so that the state funds disbursed truly deliver a real economic impact for village communities, rather than just being a vanity project without thorough assessment.
