PM calls on cooperatives to blaze ahead

He said Malaysian cooperatives had proven they could contribute to economic development and provide business opportunities as well as employment but they could do even better.

He noted that they should develop in a planned and structured manner through leadership that held on to the founding principles to be even more successful.

"I want to see the cooperative movement in Malaysia continue to grow. Now it has a total membership of more than seven million people and assets standing at RM130 billion while at the global level, a study by the International Cooperative Alliance ( in 2014) found cooperatives employed a staggering 250 million workers which is almost nine per cent of the worker population in the world.

"I want to see the cooperatives in Malaysia attain the 12 per cent level. So , it is not impossible for the cooperatives sector to create job opportunities or companies to be the third biggest sector after the private and public sectors," he said.

Najib said this when opening the 4th annual general meeting of Koperasi Profesional Putrajaya Berhad (Koprojaya), of which he is also the patron, here today.

Also present were Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin, Public Service Department director-general Tan Sri Zainal Rahim Seman and Koprojaya chairman Muhammad Ammir Haron.

Taking Japan as an example, Najib, who is also Finance Minister, said the cooperatives sector there had played a key role in generating new jobs.

"The cooperatives movement in Japan contributes 30 per cent of household products that are produced their cooperatives which have a total membership of over 28 million people," he said.

Najib also praised Koprojaya which succeeded in raising its revenue by 23.86 per cent with 10 per cent returns after zakat (business tithe) payment for the fourth the year in a row.

Muhammad Ammir in his speech said Koprojaya would continue to forge ahead in serving its 1,398 members.