ALOR GAJAH: The Cooperative Commission of Malaysia (SKM) is committed to assisting and making 2022 the year of recovery and expansion for cooperatives, especially in the tourism sector which has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

       Its deputy executive chairman Rusli Jaafar said for the past two years the sector had been impacted in terms of revenue and as a result some had to close down.

       “Several incentives will be introduced such as injecting aid and revolving capital funds to allow the cooperatives to recover and proceed with their business and organise their programmes as early as January.

       “The sector needs assistance because indirectly, the situation also affects the Education Fund and Development Fund as cooperatives in the sector contribute 2% based on current profits to be used for development projects,” he said yesterday.

       Earlier, he was at a ceremony to hand over the funeral administration room, a CSR programme, at Masjid Al-Mujib in Kampung Durian Daun, Masjid Tanah, which was officiated by Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Seri Sulaiman Md Ali.

       A total of 17 cooperative bodies in Melaka contributed to the CSR project by raising RM23,400.

       Rusli said SKM was still accepting registration applications from new groups and the number had increased by 2% proving that the public was still interested in setting up cooperatives despite the pandemic.

       Based on its records, he said the performance of the cooperative movement in Malaysia had been encouraging as there were 14,629 cooperatives with a membership of almost 6.5 million people.

       The share capital and fees amounted to RM15.8bil with assets worth RM150bil while generated revenue was RM41.4bil, he added. — Bernama