EAST FLORES – The Minister of Villages and Development of Disadvantaged Regions (Mendes PDT), Yandri Susanto, asserted that one of the primary benefits of the Merah Putih Village/Sub-district Cooperative (Kopdes) is to absorb the local workforce, thereby helping to achieve equitable development.

According to Minister Yandri, this measure is vital to ensuring that neighboring communities directly experience the benefits of the Merah Putih Kopdes while minimizing social disparities across the region.

"Therefore, these Merah Putih village and sub-district cooperatives will each absorb seventeen workers. And it is strictly mandatory for them to be residents of the specific village or sub-district where the cooperative is located. If there are workers brought in from the outside, report it to the Ministry, Sir. We will certainly investigate it," Minister Yandri outlined during a face-to-face meeting with village and sub-district heads from across East Flores Regency, held at the Merah Putih Kopdes Warehouse in Weri District, on Friday (July 3, 2026).

Broadly speaking, Minister Yandri also stated that the Merah Putih Kopdes serves as a dedicated solution providing easy, light, and legal capital for local residents. The program is specifically designed to liberate the community from the clutches of predatory loan sharks (rentenir) and illegal online lending applications (pinjol) by suppressing loan rates to a very low bracket.

To achieve this, the government is pushing for a maximum loan interest rate of just 6 percent per annum. In addition to housing lending counters, the retail outlets or "Village Shops" operated by these cooperatives will serve as distributors of subsidized basic commodities, collection centers for local farmers' harvests, and providers of daily essential goods for residents.

"Furthermore, ladies and gentlemen, these outlets will eventually stock fertilizers. Bank BNI will also be integrated there. So, please, do not borrow from loan sharks anymore. President Prabowo wants to eradicate predatory lending through the facilities provided by State-Owned Banks (Bank Himbara)," Minister Yandri explained.

In addition, Minister Yandri stated that the government will continuously evaluate and rectify any shortcomings within the Merah Putih Kopdes program. The evaluation will focus on improving governance, relocating poorly positioned or unstrategic outlets, and tightening supervision to ensure operations become more efficient, accurate, and precisely targeted toward serving the public.

"I use the analogy of a durian tree: if it bears 100 fruits and 1 or 2 turn out to be rotten, you discard the rotten fruit—you do not chop down the entire tree. If corruption occurs within the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) program, you handle the corruption; you do not terminate the MBG program itself," he concluded.

The event was attended by the Vice Chairman of Commission IV of the House of Representatives (DPR RI) Ahmad Yohan, Vice Governor of NTT Johni Asadoma, and the Regent of East Flores Antonius Doni Dihen. Accompanying Minister Yandri was the Director General of Village Economic Development and Investment (PEID) at the Ministry, Tabrani.

Foto: Mugi/Kemendes PDT 
Teks: Dayat/Kemendes PDT