KUCHING, March 27: Minister of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar calls on cooperative sectors in Sarawak to take more active role in the socio-economic development of the state by investing in businesses with enormous multiplier effect that would benefit the community, particularly the Bumiputera group.
Wan Junaidi in a press statement today said in order to truly embrace the spirit of “Memasyarakatkan Gerakan Koperasi”, cooperatives need to be more involved in business activities that would not only benefit its members but the local community as well.
“The role of cooperatives need to evolve more than just becoming money lenders to their members in efforts to remain relevant and to be able to withstand the increasingly challenging business environment.
“Cooperatives need to move with time 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 cooperative sector towards a higher heights,” he said.
Wan Junaidi noted the Cooperative Institute of Malaysia (IKM) has also been given the important task to address talent gap within the cooperatives movement.
According to him, the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives (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 added.
On another note, Wan Junaidi, who is also Santubong MP, presented some RM176,000 worth of donations and assistance to recipients in Lundu and Sempadi areas.
This include RM110,000 Minor Rural Project (MRP) grants to 14 organisations in Tanjung Datu area, RM60,000 donations under Bank Rakyat Back to School Programme to students in Tanjung Datu, RM3,500 assistance to fire victims from Kampong Sileng in Lundu, and RM2.500 donation to B40 groups under IKM CSR programme. — DayakDaily
