Residents challenge the outlet's location
The conflict in Polindu, in Central Buton Regency, began after the proposed outlet's location shifted about 50 meters from the coordinates the village government had announced, according to Tempo.
Apri Awo, who heads the Southeast Sulawesi chapter of the Indonesian Young Advocates Association's Legal Aid Institute, is assisting the residents. He said they hold ownership certificates for the land at the new site.
"The location is right on land for which residents hold certificates of ownership," Apri told Tempo by phone on October 20, 2026.
Apri said construction had reached the foundation stage when residents protested to stop the work. In March 2026, Diman Safaat, a resident who said he owned part of the land, set fire to construction materials at the site in protest.
Village Head Sinakaria lodged a vandalism complaint against residents with the Central Buton Police on March 27, 2026. On April 4, Diman and two other residents, Andi Mursin and Merdan Edi, responded with a complaint accusing Sinakaria and several cooperative officials of land grabbing.
A nationwide construction program
Polindu's outlet is part of a program intended to establish about 80,000 cooperatives, roughly one for each village or urban ward. Ministry of Cooperatives figures put the number built by July 2026 at 15,845, with another 19,539 under construction.
President Prabowo Subianto announced the initiative at a limited cabinet meeting on March 3, 2025. The Ministry of Cooperatives issued a circular on March 18, followed by Presidential Instruction No. 9/2025 on March 27. The launch took place on July 21, about four months after the announcement, according to Jeff Neilson's analysis in New Mandala.
Addressing reports about unsuitable sites, Cooperatives Minister Ferry Juliantono said fewer than 10 outlets out of 30,000 were in suboptimal locations.
Village funds and construction loans
The program draws on a large share of Indonesia's village funding. Finance Ministry Regulation No. 7/2026, promulgated on February 9, 2026, requires 58.03 percent of the year's village fund ceiling to support the cooperatives' establishment and operation.
Under Article 15, paragraph (3), that allocation amounts to about Rp 34.57 trillion from a total ceiling of Rp 60.57 trillion, leaving roughly Rp 25 trillion for other village needs, Kompas.id reported.
Neilson's analysis puts the construction budget for each cooperative at Rp 3 billion, or about $166,000, implying nationwide establishment costs of around $13 billion. State-owned banks lend the construction money to state food company PT Agrinas Pangan Nusantara.
Village administrations repay those loans through deductions from their General Allocation Fund (DAU), Revenue-Sharing Fund (DBH) and Village Fund transfers.
Procurement allegations and training changes
A July 2026 review by Indonesia Corruption Watch and Project Multatuli raised concerns about the program's pickup-truck procurement. It found that prices paid through an intermediary trading company exceeded fair import values by Rp 60 million to Rp 69 million per vehicle. The reviewers projected potential rent-seeking of several trillion rupiah across the order.
The program's basic military training for prospective cooperative managers continued despite five participant deaths in its first 10 days. After the deaths, the Defense Ministry removed military technical and tactical instruction, including shooting practice and rifle-squad tactics, Kompas.com reported.
Juliantono acknowledged that the original training format was mismatched to the managers' needs. He said the revised program gives more time to management, finance, cooperatives and community interaction.
