Indonesian minister's remarks about govt-backed cooperatives altered by AI
- Published on August 7, 2026 at 11:11
- 3 min read
- By Felix NATHANIEL, AFP Indonesia
An Indonesian government programme to establish village cooperatives nationwide has raised alarms about the potential impact on small businesses, but a top official did not say rural shops should be shut down to eliminate competition, contrary to online posts. Circulating footage of minister Yandri Susanto apparently making the remarks was AI-generated. A review of the original clip shows he floated the idea of temporarily pausing the issue of permits for new, modern retail outlets and the expansion of existing stores.
"The government hopes that all shops and small retail stores in villages will be closed so that villagers will shop at the village cooperative," Minister of Villages and Development of Disadvantaged Regions Yandri Susanto appears to say in a Facebook video shared on July 30, 2026.
His purported remarks are repeated in the video's Indonesian-language caption and in superimposed text.
The rest of the video shows Yandri promoting the government's Merah Putih Village Cooperatives (KDMP) programme, the brainchild of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.
The cooperatives are supposed to "serve as integrated rural economic service hubs and a key instrument for improving people's welfare", according to the Cabinet Secretariat (archived link).
They will purchase agricultural and other local products from surrounding communities, provide lending services, and are designed to serve as the government's distribution channel for subsidised goods, such as cooking gas and oil and fertiliser. These products are often sold above government-set prices in local retailers.
The video was also shared in similar Facebook posts as the KDMP programme was met with scepticism and criticism (archived link).
The government is targeting establishing 83,000 village cooperatives across Indonesia, but some have questioned their location -- saying they are either too far from residential areas or too close to each other -- and raised concerns about alleged evictions to make way for the projects (archived link).
The circulating video, however, has been manipulated with the help of AI. The minister did not suggest small shops and stores should be closed to eliminate competition.
Fabricated remarks
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to similar footage posted on TikTok on July 6 (archived link).
Yandri does not say in the clip that the government would close existing shops or small retail businesses already operating in villages.
Instead, he suggested that imposing a moratorium -- a temporary suspension -- on permits for new modern retail outlets and the expansion of existing ones was necessary.
"Based on our assessment to strengthen the president's programme, one of the measures is a moratorium on permits for new modern retail outlets. This is our way of affirming and defending the interests of ordinary people," Yandri says.
A subsequent keyword search found similar footage uploaded to the minister's official Instagram account on April 14 (archived link).
Its caption says Yandri was on an official working visit to Banggai, Central Sulawesi, where he inspected several projects, including the development of the KDMP (archived link).
The Ministry of Villages separately addressed the false claim on its official Instagram account on August 1 (archived link).
The minister "never stated that the government would close small shops or grocery stores, nor prohibit the establishment of businesses around the Merah Putih Village/Subdistrict Cooperatives," it said.
"The information circulating on social media is misleading content and cannot be held accountable."
The Ministry of Trade also told AFP the decision to implement any moratorium would ultimately rest with local governments.
"Business permits are not issued by the Ministry of Trade but by local governments. Therefore, the authority to impose or not impose a moratorium rests with local governments," Iqbal Shoffan Shofwan, Director General of Domestic Trade at the Ministry of Trade, said on August 5.
"As of now, no such policy exists," Iqbal said.
A closer analysis of the falsely shared video contains anomalies that are hallmarks of AI-generated audio -- including robotic delivery and a voice that differs from the speaker's actual voice.
A subsequent analysis of the video, using the Hiya AI detection tool available in the Verification Plugin, found the audio is "very likely AI-generated".
AFP has previously debunked other misleading claims about Indonesian government policies.
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