InfoSAWIT, JAKARTA – Eighty-one years after Indonesia declared independence, the challenge is no longer simply to achieve economic growth, but to ensure that ordinary people secure a larger share of the economy they help create.
Every August, Indonesians return to the story of independence. Yet after 81 years, the meaning of independence deserves to be viewed from another perspective: what does it mean for people working every day on plantations, farms, fishing boats, markets, workshops, factories and small businesses that sustain the national economy?
From years of working with farmer cooperatives, one lesson stands out. The challenges faced by farmers are not always limited to low prices or insufficient capital. A deeper problem is that too many important economic decisions remain in the hands of others.
A farmer may own a plantation, but have little influence over fertilizer prices. They cultivate and maintain their crops, yet may not have transparent information about how the quality of their produce is assessed. They bear production risks, but often do not own processing facilities. When commodity prices fall, farmers absorb the impact, while much of the added value generated further along the supply chain remains far from the plantation.
Owning an asset, therefore, does not automatically translate into economic power.
There is a fundamental difference between owning a plantation and controlling a plantation business, producing commodities and controlling the trading chain, or having production capacity and possessing the bargaining power to decide where, at what price and under what terms that production is sold.
This is where the idea of economic independence becomes important.
Economic independence does not mean everyone must become wealthy, nor does it mean rejecting large corporations, banks, investment or cooperation with external partners. Rather, it means having sufficient economic strength to make choices instead of constantly accepting decisions made by others.
Indonesia's economy has continued to expand. In the second quarter of 2026, national economic growth reached 5.29 percent. Yet as of May 2026, 87.88 million workers, or around 59.3 percent of the employed population, were still working in the informal economy. Statistics Indonesia, or BPS, also recorded 42.49 million people working in agriculture, forestry and fisheries.
Behind the headline growth figures, millions of Indonesians continue to depend on small businesses, self-employment, family enterprises, farming and trading.
The problem is not that Indonesians are not working. They produce food, palm oil, rubber, fish, coffee, vegetables, livestock, handicrafts, services and countless other goods and services. The challenge is that this economic strength is fragmented across millions of small units, while markets, industries, financing, technology and distribution operate through much larger organizations.
In other words, the people are not necessarily too small.
Their economic strength is simply too fragmented.
That is where cooperatives regain their relevance.
Growing Businesses Without Concentrating Ownership
Cooperatives offer a model in which businesses can achieve significant scale without concentrating ownership in the hands of a small number of people.
A thousand farmers could jointly own a transportation company. Five thousand farmers could own a processing plant. Dozens of cooperatives could establish a fertilizer company, while hundreds could build shared distribution centers, technology platforms, financing institutions or export businesses.
The business can be large, professionally managed and technologically advanced, while ownership remains with thousands or even millions of members.
For decades, however, cooperatives in Indonesia have often been imagined on too small a scale. They are frequently associated with grocery stores or savings and loan services. Once the discussion moves toward industrial processing, technology, national trade and exports, the imagination tends to shift toward corporations and large capital owners.
There is no fundamental reason why thousands of farmers cannot collectively own a large processing plant, or why millions of cooperative members cannot own a technology company.
The thinking of Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta remains relevant. Soekarno emphasized Berdikari, or self-reliance, as an important element of independence, while Hatta viewed cooperatives as a pathway toward economic democracy.
But those ideas must now be applied to the realities of the 21st century, including global corporations, digital technology, climate change, international markets and increasingly complex supply chains.
Self-reliance does not mean isolation.
Indonesia will continue to need banks, investors, large corporations, foreign technology, export markets and even overseas capital. True independence means being able to cooperate from a position of greater equality.
For farmers, the test can be straightforward. When prices become unreasonable, do they have alternative buyers? When fertilizer prices rise, can they purchase collectively? When transportation costs increase, can they own their own vehicles? When raw materials are sold cheaply, can they enter the processing business themselves?
Every answer that changes from “no” to “yes” represents a step toward greater economic independence.
Cooperatives Must Move Beyond Retail
The development of the Merah Putih Village/Subdistrict Cooperatives also presents a major opportunity. In July 2025, the government launched 80,081 Merah Putih Village/Subdistrict Cooperatives to promote self-reliance, food security and more equitable economic development at the village level.
But Indonesia does not need 80,000 new signs bearing cooperative names.
It needs 80,000 economic organizations that actually function.
Legal incorporation can be completed relatively quickly. Building a successful cooperative requires member trust, transactions, management, capital, discipline, experience and time. A building can be constructed with public funding, but a genuine sense of ownership cannot simply be purchased.
Cooperatives therefore need to emerge from real economic problems.
In one village, the priority may be fertilizer procurement. In another, it may be rice prices, palm oil transportation, fish storage, fruit warehouses, packaging or market access.
Cooperatives should also avoid remaining merely retail outlets. They need to move up the value chain—from joint procurement to marketing, transportation, storage, processing, branding and market development.
Not everything needs to be owned by a single cooperative. What matters is a clear direction: an increasing share of the local economy should be owned and controlled by the community itself.
Building Toward Indonesia 2045
Indonesia is now less than two decades away from the centenary of independence. Much of the national conversation focuses on how large the Indonesian economy will become by 2045.
An equally important question is: who will own that economy?
The success of cooperatives should not be measured simply by the number of cooperatives or their turnover. More important indicators include how much members' production is marketed collectively, how much production costs are reduced, what assets are owned, how much capital is accumulated, how much added value remains with members and how much bargaining power they gain.
Toward 2045, cooperatives need to bring together fragmented economic strength, acquire strategic assets that strengthen bargaining positions and connect with one another so they can enter large-scale industries, technology, financing and trade.
Indonesia does not need to wage a battle against large corporations.
It simply needs to ensure that ordinary people can own large companies too.
Ultimately, economic independence is not about making everyone equally wealthy. It is about ensuring that more people have choices, bargaining power and ownership over the economy they themselves build.
Eighty-one years ago, Indonesians reclaimed the right to determine the nation's future. Today, the task is quieter and longer: organizing the economic strength of the people until they are able to determine their own economic future.
That is where cooperatives should play their role.
Written by: Jamaluddin, Chairman of Koperasi Belayan Sejahtera
Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of the author and is entirely the author's responsibility. The views expressed do not represent InfoSAWIT.
