KUCHING: The cooperative sector in Sarawak should take on a more active role in the socioeconomic development of the state.
This especially pertains to the rural areas whereby the sector can invest in businesses with enormous multiplier effect that would benefit the community, particularly the Bumiputera group, said Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.
The Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives (Medac) Minister said cooperatives needed to be more involved in business activities that would not only benefit its members but the local community as well, in order to truly embrace the spirit of ‘Memasyarakatkan Gerakan Koperasi’.
“In order to remain relevant and to be able to withstand the increasingly challenging business environment, the role of cooperatives needs to evolve into more than just becoming money lenders to their members,” he said.
He said cooperatives needed to invest in businesses that would not only bring in higher dividends for its members, but could also help in the socioeconomic development of a community via the creation of jobs, bringing in infrastructure, and others.
“Cooperatives need to move with the times and be more dynamic. To achieve this, there is indeed a dire need for the movement to start bringing in more new blood, particularly professionals, to bring the cooperative sector to greater heights,” he said.
He said this at a ‘Ke Arah Memasyarakatkan Koperasi 2021’ programme held by the Cooperative Institute of Malaysia (IKM) and Malaysia Prihatin programme held in Lundu on Sunday.
In view of this, Wan Junaidi said IKM had been given the important task of addressing the talent gap within the cooperative movement.
He said Medac is currently in the process of upgrading IKM into a university and once that is done, the institute would be able to train cooperative members with the right skills that would contribute towards enhancing the movement further.
“The government has high hopes for cooperatives to be one of the main growth engines of the economy.
“We are targeting for the cooperative sector to contribute RM100 billion to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2030. To achieve this, we certainly need people with the right skill set to bring this movement further,” he said.
On another issue, the Santubong MP called on Malaysians to register themselves for the Covid-19 immunisation to help the country in curbing the spread of the pandemic.
As of Mar 23, only 6.4 million Malaysians, representing 26.56 percent of the population, had registered to be vaccinated. In Sarawak, only 504,262 (24.34 percent) had signed up for the immunisation programme.
“It is the responsibility of everyone to stop the spread of Covid-19. To effectively fight this, we need to go for the vaccination. We have seen the devastating effects of the pandemic, both on the people’s safety as well as the economy. Let’s do our part to stop this,” urged Wan Junaidi.
At the event, he also presented RM176,000 worth of donations and assistance to recipients in Lundu and Sempadi areas.
Included in the assistance were minor rural project (MRP) grants worth RM110,000 to 14 organisations in Tanjung Datu area; RM60,000 donations under Bank Rakyat’s ‘Back to School Programme’ to students in Tanjung Datu; RM3,500 assistance to fire victims from Kampung Sileng in Lundu and a RM2,500 donation to B40 groups under IKM’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme.
