Jakarta, May 18 -- Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, said villages and rural communities must become the main drivers of national development through economic empowerment and food security programs.

In a statement issued on Monday, Yudhoyono, widely known as AHY, said village development should focus on empowering residents as key contributors to economic growth.

"The government wants rural communities to become the main actors and beneficiaries of development, not merely spectators," AHY said.

He said stronger villages would help reinforce Indonesia's food security through grassroots economic activity.

AHY said the government's Red and White Village Cooperatives p...