Thursday 28 Mar 2024
By
main news image

KUALA LUMPUR (July 11): Angkatan Koperasi Kebangsaan Malaysia Bhd (Angkasa), the umbrella body representing 14,000 cooperatives in the country, is urging the government to slash 28 bureaucracies and red-tapes, claiming some of them are not business-friendly and could impede business growth, said its president Datuk Abdul Fattah Abdullah. 

"There are many rules and regulations that are not friendly to the cooperative movement. For example, if the cooperative wants to do a business in healthcare, the process can take more than one year, and [will be] subject to many approvals from so many parties," Abdul Fattah told reporters after a 30-minute meeting with the Council of Eminent Persons at Menara Ilham today.

Under the Malaysia Co-operative Societies Commission, there are 28 guidelines that each cooperative entities must adhere to, ranging from the establishment of a cooperative body, liquidity, business conduct and Shariah governance. 

"These rules are great in nature, but on second thought, is it too many for a small cooperatives to adhere?" he reasoned. 

Apart from reducing the red tapes, Abdul Fattah said the government could also consider giving exemptions and longer timeframe for cooperatives to fully comply with the guidelines. 

For now, Abdul Fattah said Angkasa has no intention to morph itself into a cooperative bank.

"We do not see the need to do so for now and we are quite happy at where we are at," he added. 

To sustain business growth, Abdul Fattah said Angkasa will continue to venture into other business areas such property and real estate, and renewable energy, which will generate a steady source of income. 

Currently, Abdul Fattah said Angkasa's solar energy plant on a 1.2 hectare land in Sungai Tiang Kedah, which has a capacity to produce one megawatt of electricity, is capable of generating a daily income of around RM3,000 to RM4,000, translating to more than RM100,000 per month.

In 2016, Abdul Fattah had said Angkasa, via its wholly-owned unit MyAngkasa Holding Sdn Bhd, had signed a power purchase agreement with Tenaga Nasional Bhd to supply 1MW of electricity for a period of 21 years. 

Currently, Abdul Fattah said MyAngkasa, which has interest in eight sectors — financial services, retail, wholesale, tourism, health, agriculture, community, innovation, telecommunications and renewable energy — generates an annual pre-tax profit of around RM16 million, on revenue of around RM137 million. 

Going forward, Abdul Fattah said Angkasa members should reduce heavy reliance on providing credits, but diversify into other business areas that will complement existing businesses. 

Established since 1971, Angkasa provides salary-deduction services to all 1.6 million government workers. 

For each salary-deductive transaction, group chief executive officer Nasir Khan Yahya said Angkasa charges a fee ranging from 0.5% to 2%, the lowest in the market.

"Our monthly collection from salary-deductive services alone totalled RM1 billion to RM1.3 billion," Nasir Khan added.

In 2017, Abdul Fattah claimed all 14,000 cooperatives in the country contributed around 3% to 4% to the gross domestic product, which is worth around RM40 billion. 

      Print
      Text Size
      Share