KOTA KINABALU: The National Cooperative Movement (Angkasa) calls on its members to adopt digitalisation as it was important in the development of cooperatives.
"According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia, digital-based businesses contributed RM291.7 billion in the first quarter of 2023.
"The majority of this contribution comes from the manufacturing and service sectors.
"This revenue is crucial for us to use as a catalyst for the advancement of cooperatives because the service sector is predominantly led by cooperatives in this country," he said at the Sabah Angkasa general assembly at a hotel here.
He added that according to the Malaysian Cooperative Commission, up June 30, last year, there were 15,553 registered cooperatives with a membership of 7.3 million.
The total shares or fees amounted to RM17.47 billion, total assets amounted to RM 161.96 billion and the total revenue recorded until Dec 31, 2022, was RM45.05 billion.
"This achievement demonstrates that despite being tested by various crises, cooperatives remain resilient and consistently record increased revenue because of their strong support system, from their members, Angkasa as the apex body, and also from the government and its agencies.
"Therefore, I have great hope that cooperatives will continue to work with Angkasa because we always strive for the rights and interests of this movement and are committed to stimulating business in key sectors to ensure that we can all contribute to the country's development."
Fattah said Angkasa's transformation plan saw it implementing business projects to help cooperatives become more competitive and engage in large enterprises led by the private sector.
"This year, there is an additional agenda at the national assembly in each state, and the proposed resolutions will be brought to the upcoming National Cooperative Congress.
"Through this congress, we aim to reexamine the relevance and suitability of the cooperative acts and regulations used to align with dynamic environmental changes.
"Inshallah, this National Cooperative Congress will be officiated by the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim himself."
Present was Sabah Angkasa chairman Dr Zhamriee Gulamrasul.
