The cooperative movement consists of 7,000 cooperatives with a membership of seven million, snowballing to 16 million with family members included. Since inception of the cooperative movement, the cooperative movement has amassed fixed assets amounting to more than RM79 million.

(a) Our status as the third largest economic sector has been dragged down to the fourth

engine of growth

(b) 80 percent of the ooperatives are

  • inactive

  • defunct

  • dormant

  • have not held their AGM

  • awaiting tribunal decisions

and other problems.

(c) Attempts to selectively force cooperatives to transfer their statutory reserve funds is

being resisted with legal action and with proposals to refer grievances to the United

Nations and the International Labour Organisation.

(d) Whilst legal action are pending, the Malaysian Cooperative Commission has blatantly instructed the cooperatives to amend their by-laws and they have come up with their own guidelines, a blatant contempt of court.

(e) Conglomerates like Felda A and other organisations will collapse if the cooperatives are compelled to transfer their statutory reserve funds and the forced contributions of their funds by the Malaysian Cooperative Commission has resulted in insecurity within the movement.

(f) The cooperative arbitrative machinery is too slow. Sometimes it takes five to eight years to complete the litigation process.

(g) Contributions to the Education Trust Fund and Cooperative Development Trust Fund have been mis-administered and mismanaged.

(h) Millions spent to set up apex cooperative organisations like Koperasi National Sekolah, Koperasi Pembangunan Negara, Koperasi Perumahan Negara, Koperasi Pembangunan Industri Daerah, and other apex cooperatives organisations are in limbo. The recently launched Koperasi Bela Rakyat (Kobera) is a duplicate of the defunct Koperasi Pembangunan Industri Daerah.

(i) It is a mockery that Aangkasa, the apex cooperative organisation, is embarking to form a Cooperative Bank when its venture into the Amanah Saham Aangkasa failed with losses amounting to millions.

(j) The Cooperate Commission has misled Parliament and acquired powers to amend

Acts passed by Parliament.

(k) The Cooperative Commission has been accorded too much power - as registrars as regulators, as enforcers, as managers, as development authorities duplicating the existing training and audit bureaus.

If remedial action is not taken, the collapse of the cooperative movement is imminent. Grievances may have to be taken to the UN and the International Labour Organisation.

The writer is advisor, Cooperative Union of Malaysia.