The Indonesian government has set up service posts to accelerate the establishment of village cooperatives in the Papua regions.
Mulyadin Malik, Head of the Development and Information Agency at the Ministry of Villages and Development of Disadvantaged Regions (PDT), said the posts are located in the provinces of Papua and West Papua.
"Stakeholders in the provinces of Highland Papua, South Papua, and Central Papua can consult the service post in Papua, while those in Southwest Papua can reach out to the one in West Papua," he said in Jayapura, Papua, on Friday.
He added that the service posts are expected to boost cooperative establishment progress to at least 80 percent of the national target.
"The presence of these Red and White Village Cooperative service posts is crucial to achieving this year’s target," Malik said, referring to the government’s program to establish 80,000 village cooperatives nationwide.
Acting Governor of Papua Agus Fatoni urged local government leaders across the province to continue monitoring and expediting the development of village cooperatives.
"Based on the reports I received, several districts in Papua have already met 100 percent of their cooperative establishment targets. However, progress in some areas has stalled due to incomplete documentation," he said.
He noted that while nearly 80 percent of villages in the province have conducted discussions on the cooperative program, only about 25 percent meet the administrative requirements to proceed with legal establishment.
"Given this, it is essential that we accelerate all related processes," he emphasized.
On July 4, PDT Minister Yandri Susanto said that 95 percent of the roughly 80,000 village cooperatives targeted nationwide have obtained legal status from the Ministry of Law and Human Rights.
Despite this progress, he acknowledged that several regions in Papua still face challenges in completing administrative and legal requirements.
To address this, Susanto said his ministry, together with the Ministry of Law and Human Rights and the Ministry of Cooperatives, has deployed a joint team to Papua.
"The plan is for this integrated team to remain in Papua for 10 days to speed up the legalization of Red and White Village Cooperatives," he said.
He added that the team is expected to help raise the cooperative legalization rate to 100 percent before the program is officially launched by President Prabowo Subianto on July 19.
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Translator: Qadri P, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Anton Santoso
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