Deaths of 5 trainees cast shadow over Prabowo's $13.4B village cooperative program

When Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto promised to build 80,000 village cooperatives across the archipelago, the aim was to drive rural growth, strengthen food security and give communities greater control over essential goods and services.

But the deaths of five trainees preparing to manage the cooperatives have cast a shadow over the US$13.4 billion programme, one of Prabowo’s flagship initiatives alongside free nutritious meals and affordable housing.

The trainees were required to take part in a programme that included basic military exercises overseen by the Ministry of Defence even though their future work would focus on managing cooperatives in rural communities.

The fatalities have turned scrutiny towards the design and safety of the training, raising broader questions about whether a reliance on military discipline in policymaking could undermine the programme.

The ministry said the five died after joining a training that began on June 18, citing various medical conditions including heatstroke, cardiac arrest, tuberculosis and pneumonia.

“The national selection committee had conducted [a medical screening] from the beginning of the process. However, in reality, some illnesses went undetected,” Major General Ketut Gede Wetan, head of the human resources development agency at the ministry, told reporters on Saturday.