KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16 — A total of 15,809 cooperatives with 7.31 million members have been registered with the Malaysia Cooperative Societies Commission (SKM) as of December 31, said Datuk R. Ramanan.
The Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Deputy Minister said Selangor and Kuala Lumpur were the states with the most cooperatives.
“In the Klang Valley, we have 3,286 registered cooperatives, with Selangor accounting for 2,114. These cooperatives are the ‘backbone of the country’, holding assets totalling RM159.61 billion,” he said after visiting the SKM headquarters here today.
The visit was Ramanan’s first since being appointed as the deputy minister.
He said SKM was targeting the establishment of 650 cooperatives this year after 1,001 new cooperatives were set up last year, while it was aiming to rehabilitate 32 cooperatives this year after reviving 92 last year, well beyond the target of 35.
He also said SKM was aiming to cancel 427 registered cooperatives this year.
“Last year, SKM’s target was to cancel 440, but we rooted out 500 cooperatives. It’s not SKM’s intention to pursue cancellations, but I was told that the secretaries-general, chairmen and change of address were untraceable,” he said.
Meanwhile, SKM chief executive officer Rusli Jaafar said it was processing disaster aid applications for 36 cooperatives affected by floods, with a maximum of RM30,000 each.
He said seven applications were from Kelantan, 10 from Pahang, 14 from Terengganu and five from Johor.
“The requested amount is RM600,000, but we have an allocation of RM2 million to repair their damaged premises, crops and so on.”
— Bernama
