Indonesian military denies cooperative built on hill, blames viral video angles

The Indonesian military (TNI) has actively addressed viral social media claims that a village cooperative in Tanggamus, Lampung, was improperly constructed on a hill. Officials from Kodam XXI/Radin Inten have firmly denied these assertions, providing a detailed account of the cooperative's development.

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The construction of the Merah Putih Cooperative building was not a unilateral decision by the village head or the cooperative management, but went through the Village Deliberation (Musdes) mechanism. All stages of construction are also accompanied by minutes of meeting as a legal basis.

According to Kodam XXI/Radin Inten's Head of Information, Letkol Inf Ranoviandy Chairul, the construction of the Koperasi Desa/Kelurahan Merah Putih (KDKMP) was not an arbitrary decision. He emphasized that the project underwent a formal village deliberation (Musdes) process, with all stages documented through official minutes, ensuring legal compliance.

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We have checked the field, the location of the KDKMP is in the middle of the residents' settlement of Pekon Sidokaton, Gisting District, Tanggamus Regency.

Ranoviandy stated that on-site inspections confirmed the cooperative's location is situated amidst the residential settlement of Pekon Sidokaton. He explained that the site was chosen through community consensus to utilize village assets for economic activities benefiting residents. The military official suggested that the viral videos, which depicted the cooperative against a hilly backdrop, presented a skewed perspective by focusing on specific angles.

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The video circulating on social media only shows a certain angle, creating a different perception from the actual conditions.

He further alleged that the creators of these videos intentionally framed the footage from extreme viewpoints to maximize views and engagement, disregarding the potential public opinion impact on local development programs. The KDKMP building is now complete and ready for operation. The Head of Pekon Sidokaton, Indrio Basuki, corroborated this, clarifying that the cooperative is located within the community, not under Mount Tanggamus as claimed in some online narratives. He reiterated that the development was a community-agreed project involving various local stakeholders.

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We want to clarify that the video circulating on TikTok that the Merah Putih Village Cooperative construction in Sidokaton Village is under Mount Tanggamus is not true. The construction of the village cooperative in Sidokaton Village is located in the middle of the community settlement of Sidokaton Village.