Inp.polri.go.id - Bandung. Deputy Minister of Cooperatives Ferry Juliantono said on Saturday (10/5/2025) that the government-backed Red and White Cooperatives (KMP) initiative is expected to create at least 1.6 million jobs nationwide through the formation of 80,000 cooperative units.

“If each unit employs just 20 people—including supervisors and managers—that's already 1.6 million jobs across Indonesia. That doesn’t even count the members we’ll involve to boost rural productivity,” he said during a national seminar on Bung Hatta’s cooperative legacy, as reported by antaranews.com.

Deputy minister Ferry emphasized that KMP will not be limited to savings-and-loan operations but will also manage production sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, and plantations. He added that cooperatives would be encouraged to scale up into industrial ventures, including milk processing and textiles, aligning with the vision of economic democracy mandated by the Constitution.

The seminar also featured Meutia and Halida Hatta, the daughters of first Indonesian Vice President Mohammad Hatta who was nicknamed the father of Indonesian cooperatives,, who underscored the importance of cooperatives as instruments for dignity, collaboration, and long-term social welfare, beyond profit incentives.

(mg/inp/pr/nm)