By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, Oct 17: The Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives (Medac) is looking at linking up all the cooperatives especially those in the rural areas to establish an online market for all its members to facilitate trade and businesses.
Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said his ministry is working on transforming the cooperatives forward adding that a Cabinet paper on transforming the cooperatives will be presented to the Federal Cabinet next week.
“To implement the vision and aspiration of the cooperatives, I am now working on transformation for the cooperatives.
“The Cabinet paper will be presented to the Federal Cabinet this coming week.
“There are two papers which I have been given the choice to present.
“So, the ministry and I have decided that the Cabinet paper on transformation of cooperatives to be given priority as compared to other papers.
“Then, we can launch the transformation of the cooperatives which is in November,” he said in his speech during the launching of a programme organised by the Cooperative Institute of Malaysia Sarawak zone at a hotel here today.
He explained that the launching of the transformation for the cooperatives was to oversee the movement of the cooperatives and be connected to the mainstream business world.
Elaborating further, Wan Junaidi said Medac is looking at establishing the online market for members of the cooperatives and assisting them in their businesses so that they are connected.
“We want to establish goods sold by the people in Perlis to be known by people in Ulu Belaga.
“The goods produced in Tambunan (Sabah) can be known by people in Telok Melano.
“The goods sold in Johor can be known by people in Penang,” he added.
He gathered that most of the cooperatives in Malaysia nowadays are located in rural areas and coastal town areas which were not connected to one another.
Wan Junaidi disclosed that there are 14,000 cooperatives throughout Malaysia with a contribution of RM140 billion and six million registered members.
Earlier, he said agropreneurs who are also members of the cooperatives will be able to increase the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contribution of the cooperative sector by making full use of Internet of Things (IoT) technology in modern agricultural management.
He said Medac has committed to strengthen the cooperative movement in line with the National Co-operative Policy (2030) which targets a cooperative revenue contribution of RM100 billion by 2030.
He added the state government through the Modern Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development Ministry has promoted modern agriculture or farming using IoT on a large scale.
Hence, Wan Junaidi is confident that the approach implemented by the Modern Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development Ministry will be a success as food security is critical for the future. .—DayakDaily
