Jakarta, July 13 -- President Prabowo Subianto underscored cooperatives as the embodiment of Indonesia's people-centered economy, stressing their role as instruments of empowerment for the poor and marginalized.

"Ladies and gentlemen, cooperatives are the tools of the weak; they are the instruments of the poor. However, they are like a bundle of sticks - weak alone but strong together," he remarked during the 79th National Cooperative Day in Jakarta on Sunday (July 12).

Prabowo assured the public that his government is striving to boost the economy by reviving the cooperative movement nationwide through the Red and White Village Cooperatives (KDMP) program, with nearly 16,000 units already built.

He emphasized that strengthening cooper...