Malaysia to host the Alliance’s next General Assembly

The International Co-operative Alliance’s next General Assembly will take place in Malaysia. The announcement was made at the Alliance’s General Assembly in Antalya, Turkey, which brought together around...

The International Co-operative Alliance’s next General Assembly will take place in Malaysia. The announcement was made at the Alliance’s General Assembly in Antalya, Turkey, which brought together around 1,000 delegates from across the world.

Malaysia is home to 12,000 co-operatives with over seven million members and a turnover of RM 34,950.98m (USD $8,126.29m). Their apex body, ANKGASA, was founded in 1966 to unify Malaysian co-ops and represent them at national and international level.

65 delegates from Malaysia were present at the Alliance’s General Assembly in Antalya, Turkey including Mr Dato Abdul Fattah Abdullah, president of ANKGASA. Mr Abdullah is also president of ASEAN Co-operative Organization, which brings together federations from ASEAN countries in an integrated network, including ANKGASA. Earlier this year the Malaysian movement hosted another international event. On 15-16 October the Co-operative College of Malaysia together with the ASEAN Co-operative Organization hosted the conference Co-operative Transformation and Leadership Challenges in Kuala Lampur.

Members of the Malaysian National Co-operative Movement at the conference in Antalya
Members of the Malaysian National Co-operative Movement at the conference in Antalya

Co-operatives have a long history in the country, the first ones being established in the early 20th century. With farmers exploited by middlemen and low wage workers vulnerable to money lenders, an office of the Director of Co-operation was set up in 1922 in Taiping. The same year nine credit co-operatives and two co-operative stores.

The country’s movement has grown to include different sectors, particularly agriculture, retail, banking, insurance, housing or transport. Malaysian co-ops have a dedicated National Co-operative Day. This year the celebrations took place on 14-16 August and gathered 5,000 co-operators from across the country. ANKGASA aims to boost the co-operative economy contribution to the country’s GDP to 50% by 2020. It is also working with the government in designing and implementing the National Co-operative Policy and Economic Transformation Programme. The policy looks at three particular areas of work: development of co-operative economic activities, community confidence and good governance and regulation.

Malaysia is also ranked 26th in the World Co-operative Monitor’s list of countries by total turnover of co-operatives over USD $100m. Overall, four Malaysian co-operatives made it to the World Co-operative Monitor’s list of the largest 300 co-operatives in the world: Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Berhad (118), Koperasi Permodalan Felda Malaysia Berhad (145), Etiqa Takaful Berhad (187) and Takaful Malaysia (271).

Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Berhad is the 11th largest co-operative in the banking and financial services sector by banking income on GDP per capita. It was also ranked 118th in the top 300 largest co-op and mutual organisations.

The country’s Co-operative Societies Commission acts as a registrar and regulator of co-operatives under the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism (MDTCC). One of its objectives is to set up a National Co-operative Policy for the sector. The policy’s main aim is to increase the contribution of the co-operative movement to the GDP from 5% in 2013 to 10% by 2020.

In this article


Join the Conversation