Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs, Zulkifli Hasan, provided an official response regarding the controversy over the construction location of the Merah Putih Village Cooperative (Kopdes), which has been a hot topic on social media. This step responds to criticism from netizens who deemed the placement of the cooperative buildings unusual, such as being built in mountainous areas or positioned very close to one another.
Responding to these complaints, the man familiarly known as Zulhas emphasized that the physical position of the buildings is not a fundamental issue. According to him, the main goal of the cooperative's presence is to encourage economic empowerment of the community at the village level, rather than just a matter of geographical location.
Zulhas made the statement during a working visit to the South Sulawesi Governor's Office in Makassar. He explained that the government's long-term target is to provide one cooperative entity for every village across Indonesia to facilitate the distribution of various development programs.
Through the Merah Putih Kopdes, village communities are expected to have easier access to business capital, production centers, and government policy networks. It was also emphasized that the cooperative is a pure asset of the local village, as it is funded through budget allocations from the Ministry of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions (Kemendes PDT), with construction initiated by Agrinas.
The government aims to complete the first phase of construction for 35,872 units of Merah Putih Kopdes by August 2026. To accelerate the achievement of the total target of around 80,000 units in the following year, the government is synergizing and collaborating closely with the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI).
