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cooperative movement

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Cooperative movement – Is it still relevant?

Co-operatives today are found in nearly all countries from the developing nations of Asia, Africa, and South America to the industrial countries of Europe and North America and cooperatives movement has played a significant role towards improving the benefits and livelihood of millions of members across the globe.

A Report from United Nation’s Secretariat Department of Economic and Social Affairs Division for Social Policy and Development shows that by 2014, the world witnessed the establishment of over 2.6 million cooperatives with over 1 billion in total membership. In Malaysia (then Federal Malay States), Cooperatives have started as early as in 1907, were initiated by the British colonials to fight the chronic problems of deficit spending and rural indebtedness among  local wage earners.

Since then, cooperative in Malaysia have grown at a moderate but steady phase. The number of cooperatives has increased over the years until it reaches 11,871 cooperatives with 7.4 million members and handsomely accumulated 13.81 Billion shares as at December 2015.

Cooperative movement have made known and gained more popular especially after our government encourage more Malaysian involved in cooperative movement.

The principal and the role of cooperative as a social-economic entity which assist the less fortunate people in reducing the risks of vulnerability and raising out of poverty through pooled resources and collective approaches.

Cooperatives are sustainable businesses which needs to be promoted and shared because its business model  foster democracy, people-focused businesses, fostering decent work and inclusion and operate with concern for the environment. As defined by the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA), cooperative is “an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise”. By 2020, International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) a body represents cooperatives movement at international level, has set the aim that cooperative form of business should become “the fastest growing form of enterprise”. Our government expects that cooperatives will become the third crucial engine after the public and privates sector in driving the nation’s economic growth

Based on 2016 achievement, cooperative movement in Malaysia has reached 41 Billion in profit, and the government has set target RM50 Billion by 2020, and this figure is within reach in three years remaining.

Some researchers opined that cooperatives in Malaysia are at a cross roads due to stiff competition and challenges from other institutions and organizations that are also rapidly expanding and developing in and outside Malaysia. The issue  that needs to be address whether cooperatives are still relevant and can maintain their integrity and  not merely at the margin of  the national mainstream economy.

In 2002, the Malaysia National Cooperative Policy (NCP), 2002-2010 was launched with the aim of orderly re-developing cooperatives with the long term objective to transform cooperatives into an engine that is highly competitive, geared towards eradicating poverty and creating higher quality of life. In 2010, NCPII (2011-2020) has been launched, an extension of the original policy but sets forth the plans to strengthen the role of cooperatives within the context of national development. The government also set a target to register 16,000 cooperatives by 2020 and 50% of Malaysian to be  members and contributed 10% to national GDP in 2020.

As a brief overview, Cooperative movements in Malaysia are exposed to challenges and problems which needs to be tackled by the cooperatives themselves and surely with the help from the government. A study on cooperatives from 2002-2010 highlighted several crucial shortcomings- many, especially in the micro-coop category are very small set-ups, lack of entreprenual culture and understanding on cooperative movement, and many are not managed by professionals. Therefore, steps needs to be taken to overcome the shortcoming and help cooperative operate efficiently.

The  NCP has acknowledged the fact that not only cooperatives are small in size but they are also funded by a small amount of capital. It is very hard to get sufficient capital to fund their activities, thus cooperatives rely solely on conventional sources of capital, i.e. membership fees, share capital and accumulated profits.

Top-down management dominates too many cooperatives and member participation is weak and inefficiently managed, where most member only thinking what profit do they get from joining a cooperative and even reluctantly paying their members share and members fee.

In setting-up a cooperative, needs courage and really understand the objective of a cooperative movement. Many cooperative especially in the micro-cooperative level are not moving even after they get the approval letter from Malaysian Cooperative Commission (MCC). Most newly cooperative at the micro-level remain inactive and dormant, after having their first Cooperative meeting.  

Usually most members of newly cooperative in Malaysia especially under the micro-level category only contribute small amount of shares as low as RM100. With fifty members, the minimum number required to set-up a cooperative, means they only collected five thousand as a start-up to do their business. This amount is consider small and even not enough to do a business nowadays. But there are  some cooperatives are really serious even to the extent each members contributed one thousand per share. With one thousand they collected fifty thousand dollars and with that amount they can use some portion of the money as a capital to start their business.

Cooperative movement should focus on quality of its members, not merely depended on government help. It is a wrong perception that when setting a cooperative, the first thing come to their mind is what kind of assistance they can get from the government without first have a strong desire to pool their own resources and plan a good business which they know and can do. We do not want cooperatives only seen during their opening ceremony where they invite VIP or YB in their constituensies, then disappear without trace without even manage to hold their first committee meeting. Cooperative should also avoid sponsering in paying their members share then collect from them in a later stage. It would be meaningful for the member themself to pay personally their share and members fee so that there will be sense of responsibily towards their cooperative rather than ask other people paying for them and prefer joining the cooperative for free. Its seems a syndrome in our society, only gets serious in the beginning with big publicity but did not sustain longer, it is lucky for a cooperative to exist after one year of their existence. However there are also success story of cooperative in Malaysia which we can emulate, we can google-up to Malaysian Cooperative College (Maktab Koperasi Malaysia) website, we can read few cooperative which are very commited to their core business and produce good profit to their members. But we want more cooperative success in their business, maybe they cannot be like the big cooperative which earns millions or even billions of ringgit, because by comparing the small cooperative with the giants is not a level playing field for them. New cooperative must start their journey with small step that is to unite their members, make them understand of what is cooperative are all about. It is about leadership and management, and it’s a long journey, need passion as the saying goes, Rome is not built in one day. With the current higher cost of living, where people struggle to meet their end needs, cooperative might be the way-out to ease the burden among the members.

The table below shows that there are 12,691 co-op under the small and micro category as compared to the middle and top category but only contributed less than 10% of overall profit in 2015.

*Source:Malaysian Cooperative Commision

Most cooperatives in Malaysia are living in a comfort zone, having a subsidy mentality and heavily depended on government assistance. Coopertives in Malaysia should learn from cooperative in certain countries like Korea,Netherlands,New Zealand and Australia which have significantly contributed to their national development and to some extent determine the political party that will win in the general election.

Below are few examples on cooperative movement around the globe for reference;

In Denmark, consumer co-operatives in 2007 held 36.4% of consumer retail market. Source: Coop Norden AB Annual Report 2007. 

In Japan, the agricultural co-operatives report outputs of USD 90 billion with 91% of all Japanese farmers in membership. In 2007 consumer co-operatives reported a total turnover of USD 34.048 billion with 5.9% of the food market share. Source: Co-op 2007 Facts & Figures, Japanese Consumers' Co-operative Union.

In Mauritius, in the agricultural sector, co-operators play an important role in the production of sugar, vegetable, fruit and flower, milk, meat and fish. Nearly 50% of sugar-cane planters are grouped in co-operatives. Source: Ministry of Industry, Small & Medium Enterprises, Commerce & Cooperatives.

In The Ivory Coast, co-operatives invested USD 26 million into setting up schools, building rural roads and establishing maternal clinics in 2002. Source: ICA, Briefing for NGOs on the Work of the Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health Cluster, 2004.
 

In New Zealand, 3% of the gross domestic product (GDP) is generated by co-operative enterprise. Co- operatives are responsible for 95% of the dairy market and 95% of the export dairy market. Source: New Zealand Co-operative Association, 2007.

Having said this, cooperative movement in Malaysia must come out from their comfort zone

Our government are preparing a new vision for younger generation in the next 30 years with the launcing of TN50. Hence, cooperative movement should be included in the vision as the participation of younger generation is crucial to rejuvenate and ensure that the future growth of the cooperative segment in the country is on track. However, young generations involvement in cooperative movement after living school days are still low where statistics shows that are less than 200 youth cooperative to date registered nationwide. This weak participation are due to the general perception that co-operatives as unintresting organisations, does not present good feeling factor for gen Y to get involved, and only a few take advantage of co-operative opportunities.

In life, if we go alone we can go fast, but if we go together we can go far and cooperative if about pooling resources and energy. Why not start now to setup a cooperative in our family, our group of friends and in our community. Not only merely for profit but makes us, our family and our community more closer to each other in a meaningful way.

Salam koperasi.

This article open for comments and correction.

By: Roslan Hj Masran

Ghosts of Sulawesi (Full Documentary)

Hi.Am not an active blogger,but now i want to start write something,about my anchestor,keruak of Kota Belud.Its a bit sensetive history at Kota Belud,but just want to try to do some searching,who is this great guy.Written history he is a Bajau leader but few weeks i have met a few of keruaks clan and found surprising information about keruak.They said Keruak is a Bruneian,not only that to the extend they claim he is a Brunei Prince who ran away from Brunei.He went to Kota belud,change his name to Keruak and become a Bajau.Another version he has a link with pangeran muda Hashyim,the brunei pangeran whom once administered Sarawak with his whites best friend,none other than james Brooke.An extreme version he is Pangeran Muda Hashyim,this will be ellaborate more later on.Another versiaon said Keruak is a son or maybe grand son of Raja Tua,also a Brunei pangeran who live during late 17th century.I will also touch this version latter.Keruak wife also believed was a princess from Negeri Sembilan or from Riau Royal family.Intresting,isnt it?

LEBAH – semakin terancam

مُخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَانُهُ فِيْهِ شِفَاءٌ لِلنَّاسِ
“Dari perut lebah itu ke luar minuman (madu) yang bermacam-macam warnanya, di dalamnya terdapat obat yang menyembuhkan bagi manusia.” (QS. An Nahl : 69)


Lebah merupakan serangga penghasil madu yang telah lama dikenal manusia. Sejak zaman purba manusia memburu sarang lebah di gua-gua, di pohon kayu dan tempat-tempat lain untuk diambil madunya. Lebah juga menghasilkan produk yang yang sangat diperlukan untuk dunia kesihatan iaitu royal jelly, pollen, malam (lilin), propolis dan madu. Lebah madu adalah satu-satunya serangga yang menghasilkan makanan untuk manusia.
Terdapat kira-kira 20,000 spesies lebah, dan ia boleh didapati di setiap benua, kecuali Antartik.
Di Malaysia kawasan penternakan lebah banyak tertumpu di Negeri Sabah dan Johor. Terdapat juga di kawasan yang menjalankan perternakan lebah secara kecil-kecilan seperti di Pahang, Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu dan Kedah.
Dalam satu koloni lebah terdiri daripada seekor ratu lebah yang boleh menetaskan lebih seribu telur lebah sehari, 30,000 ribu ke 40,000 ribu pekerja lebah, 1,000 lebah jantan.

lebah tidak hanya berguna untuk manusia dari segi madunya semata-mata. Ia juga menyumbang kepada pendebungaan buah-buahan dan sayur-sayuran untuk makanan harian manusia. Bila lebah mengumpul nektar dari satu bunga ke satu bunga ia turut membantu proses pendebungaan bagi menumbuhkan buah-buahan dan sayuran untuk makanan manusia.

Tanpa lebah,pendebungaan tidak berlaku,tanpa bunga-bungaan lebah tidak dapat pula menghasilkan madu sebagai sumber makanannya.,suatu kontrak alam yang sempurna. Albert Einstin pernah berkata,"Jika lebah madu punah,manusia dimuka bumi bakal ikut punah dalam tempoh empat tahun",walaupun masih diragui Einstain pernah mengatakannya,lebah madu memang diakui penting bagi kelangsungan hidup manusia


Lebah madu selalu hidup berkoloni, rata-rata setiap koloni terdapat 60-70 ribu lebah dalam satu sarang. Walaupun populasi yang demikian padat, lebah mampu melakukan pekerjaannya secara terencana dan teratur rapi. Suatu koloni lebah umumnya terdiri dari lebah pekerja, pejantan dan ratu. Lebah pekerja boleh dikatakan menjalankan seluruh tugas dalam sarang iaitu membuat sarang, membersihkan sarang, menjaga sarang, memberi makan larva dan ratu lebah, dan yang utama adalah mengumpulkan madu dan bee pollen sebagai sumber makanannya.

Lebah semakin terancam


Koloni lebah diseluruh dunia terdedah kepada bahaya penggunaan bahan kimia yang berlebihan diladang dan pencemaran alam sekitar yang lain. Mengikut laporan Program alam sekitar PBB(UNEP),penyebaran fungi berbahaya yang dibawa melalui pergerakan perdagangan antarabangsa, turutmengancampopulasilebah.

UNEP menambah,penurunan populasi lebah memberi kesan yang serious kepada keselamatan makanan dunia.Biodiversiti juga turut terjejas sekiranya tiada berlaku persenyawaan tumbuhan yang biasa dibuat olehlebah

Penurunan populasi lebah telah dikesan sejak tahun 1998,terutamanya diBelgium,Perancis,Jerman,Haiti,Belanda,Spanyol,UK,Amerika dan Afrika juga turut menErima kesan. Lebah merupakan indikator awal keatas sebarang perubahan keatas alam sekitar
UNEP meminta kepada para petani & peladang diberi insentif untuk menggalakkan penternakan lebah madu

Pada tahun 2009,didapati koloni lebah di England berhadapan dengan kadar kepupusan yang tinggi akibat jangkitan penyakit dan kurangnya pengawalan penyakit dipihak yang berwajib

Pada tahun 2005,Walter Haefeker, Naib Presiden Persatuan Penjaga Lebah Profesional Eropah telah menimbulkan rasa resahnya pada keadaan yang berlaku kepada koloni lebah di Eropah.Tanpa diketahui sebabnya, populasi lebah di Jerman semakin menghilang dan ini memberi kemudaratan kepada penjaga-penjaga lebah di sana .
Komuniti saintis menggelarkan fenomena misteri ini sebagai Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) yang semakin pantas bertukar menjadi masalah nasional. Ada juga saintis yang melabel masalah ini sebagai “ AIDS kepada industri penjagaan lebah”. Apa yang pasti adalah berjuta lebah telah hilang begitu sahaja. Yang hanya tinggal dalam sarang ialah anak-anak yang pasti akan mati kerana tidak diberi makanan oleh lebah-lebah dewasa yang hilang tersebut. Lebih ganjil, lebah-lebah yang mati itu tidak dijumpai di dalam sarang ataupun di sekitar kawasan sarang mereka. Saintis yang sedang melakukan penyiasatan turut berasa hairan kerana simptom yang di paparkan dalam kes ini tidak dapat dirujuk dalam mana-mana data dan maklumat yang tersedia ada berkenaan lebah.


Dalam banyak kes saintis masih berjaya menemui bahan bukti bahawa hampir semua virus yang berkaitan dengan lebah telah ditemui pada lebah-lebah yang dijumpai dalam sarang setelah kehilangan secara besar-besaran yang berlaku dalam koloni lebah tersebut. Sesetengah daripada lebah tersebut menerima 5 hingga 6 jenis jangkitan dan pada masa yang sama juga dijangkiti oleh kulat. Saintis membuat kesimpulan bahawa tanda-tanda sebegini hanya berlaku kepada lebah yang telah musnah sistem antibodi mereka.

Kejutan lain buat para saintis yang menyelidiki kes ini ialah sarang lebah yang terbiar tidak didatangi oleh lebah-lebah dan haiwan yang lain. Kebiasaannya koloni lebah yang berdekatan atau parasit akan mencuri madu dan debunga yang ditinggalkan atas sebab yang berbeza seperti kesejukan yang melampau dalam musim sejuk. Para saintis tersebut membuat hipotesis bahawa “terdapat sesuatu yang toksik pada koloni yang tertinggal yang membuatkan haiwan lain menjauhi daripadanya”.

Walter Haefeker melihat perkara ini melebihi dari skop industri penjagaan lebah. Beliau membuat andaian bahawa kemungkinan paling besar faktor yang mempengaruhi fenomena ini ialah pertambahan bilangan ladang tanaman ubah suai genetik (GM) yang mempunyai sifat rintang serangga perosak telah ditanam sekitar 40 % di ladang jagung di Amerika Syarikat. Di Jerman jumlahnya hanya sekitar 0.06 % yang hanya merangkumi kawasan di sebelah timur Mecklenburg dan Brandenburg . Beliau telah menghantar beberapa saintis untuk membuat kajian di kawasan tersebut dan mencari hubungan antara tanaman GM dan penyakit yang dialami oleh lebah.

Kepupusan koloni lebah berkemungkinan juga berpunca dari kesan radiasi akibat penggunaan handphone.Pancaran radiasi melalui penggunaan alat telekomunikasi seperti handphone telah menggangu kemampuan lebah untuk mengesan sumber makanan.Satu kajian dibuat Universiti Landau didapai lebah tidak pulang semula ke haif bila handphone diletakkan berhampiran

Pemanasan global juga dipercayai menyumbang kepada kematian lebah,menurut para saintis pemanasan global meningkatkan lagi jumlah populasi agen pembawa penyakit seperti kutu,fungi dan virus yang mengancam keselamatan lebah.Perubahan cuaca yang tidak menentu berpunca dari pemanasan global ini turut menggangu koloni lebah yang sudah biasa dengan perubahan iklim yang tetap.

Di negeri kita,fenomena penurunan hasil madu lebah juga begitu ketara berlaku.Korporasi Pembanguna Desa,agensi utama dalam mengembangkan industri lebah madu di negeri ini sejak tahun 1980han lagi,melihat trend penurunan hasil madu dikalangan penternak madu di beberapa daerah seperti di Kudat sejak tahun 2008 lagi.

Antara puncanya ialah pembukaan hutan dan kecendrungan pekebun menggantikan kebun mereka dengan penanaman kelapa sawit.Ini mengakibatkan sumber makanan lebah seperti pokok kelapa semakin berkurangan.Faktor cuaca yang tidak menentu juga menyumbang kepada penurunan hasil ini.


Sudah tiba masanya kempen kesedaran agar menjaga populasi lebah ini dari mengalami kepupusan seperti yang berlaku dinegara-negara barat. Pihak sekolah contohnya boleh melibatkan diri agar pelajar-pelajar didedahkan lebih awal mengenai kepentingan lebah kepada alam sekitar. Kajian berterusan harus dilakukan dan langkah-langkah pencegahan perlu dibuat oleh pihak yang berwajib agar industri lebah dinegara ini terus berkembang untuk ditinggalkan kepada generasi akan datang.Lebah seolah-olah ingin memberi tahu kita bahwa alam sekitar semakin terancam oleh kerakusan tangan manusia sendiri.

salam,mansion di Kinarut...ada yang mengatakan ia adalah istana lama kepunyaan salah seorang sultan dari kerajaan Brunei sebelum dihuni oleh Inggeris

kata-kata hikmat

1When a man really desires a thing so deeply that he is willing to stake his entire future on a single turn of the wheel in order to get it,he is sure to win

- Napoleon Hill

2.Successful people have a positive attitude.your attitude determines your actions and your actions determines your accomplishment

3.People with a positive attitude focus their time and attention on solution,not problem.When you have positive attitude,it is easier to be persistent

4.Effective is doing right thing while efficient is doing things right

5.GRATEFUL- G-goal,R-relationship with other,A-attitude,T-time management,E-effective & effeciency,F-follow-up,U-under promise and over deliver,L-love
-"successful people are grateful people"

6.The longer you work in the right direction,the closer you are to success.Too many men give-up when success is within their grasp.They leave if for someone else to capture.
- Napoleon Hill

7.A quitter never wins,a winner never quit- Naopleon Hill

8.Shallow men believe in luck,wise and strong men believe in cause and effect - Ralph Waldo Emerson

9.It isnt your skills that are keeping you from succeding,it is your attitude - Steve Berleck

10.You have to take control of your own life,or someone else will do it for you

11.Success rarely comes to those who expect failure.If you think you are going to fail,you are going to fail.If you expect to succeed,you are likely to succeed

12.Unchallenged people are bored and unmotivated.Challenge people are excited and ready for action.

13.Whatever you do,do not make excuses,you know the old expressions "a bad workman always blame his tools.-Richard Denny