Jakarta, July 21 -- The launch of over 80 thousand Red and White Village Cooperatives must mark a break from the old cooperative paradigm that benefited a select few to a people-first approach, Cooperatives Minister Budi Arie Setiadi has said.

These village cooperatives will not only serve as community business platforms but also as key hubs for distributing staple necessities, empowering farmers and fishers, and eliminating harmful distribution chains that have long disadvantaged small communities, he pointed out.

"We are optimistic. As President (Prabowo Subianto) mentioned earlier, we must avoid the old pattern where only the chairperson profits first. Now is the era of the Red and White Village Cooperatives, where the people must be...