President Prabowo’s nationwide Red‑White village cooperatives reveal a deeper shift in Indonesia’s governance: major state initiatives launched through personal directives, military mobilisation and extra-legal authority rather than law.
Merah Putih’, or Red‑White, symbolises a patriotic initiative for village cooperatives, yet the program runs counter to the cooperative’s grass roots nature and established governance principles. Credit: sikopdes.com CC 4.0
President Prabowo’s nationwide Red‑White village cooperatives reveal a deeper shift in Indonesia’s governance: major state initiatives launched through personal directives, military mobilisation and extra-legal authority rather than law.
In late July 2026, Indonesia’s Prabowo had finalised the draft of a Presidential Regulation (Perpres) on the government-led cooperatives established in tens of thousands of villages across the nation. The name is rooted in Indonesia’s national flag, the red and white. The Red‑White Village Cooperative so far operates only through Presidential Instructions, a low‑level executive directive. Framed as vital to the food security supply chain, the village cooperatives are introduced without a legal framework. Its issue lies in Prabowo’s extra-legal power.
