December 2017

YBhg. Dato’ Abdul
Fattah Abdullah,
president of
ANGKASA, greets
conference delegates
INTERNATIONAL
CO-OPERATIVE
ALLIANCE
Anca Voinea and
Miles Hadfield report
from Malaysia
Alliance gathers in Kuala Lumpur
for Global Conference
More than 1,800 delegates from around the world
met in Malaysia last month for the Global Conference
and General Assembly of the International Cooperative
Alliance.
They were welcomed by YBhg. Dato’ Abdul Fattah
Abdullah, president of Malaysian sector body
ANGKASA, during a gala dinner, before two days of
sessions on how co-ops are putting people at the
heart of development. Alongside a focus on the
UN Goals for Sustainable Development, there were
sessions on issues including youth co-operation,
health, the future of work and gender equality.
Speaking at the gala dinner, YB Dato’ Seri
Hamzah B. Zainudin, Malaysia’s minister of
domestic trade, co-operatives and consumerism,
said his government would work with ANGKASA
– the national apex body for the co-op sector –
to ensure the continued growth of the country’s
movement, and said he would reform co-op law.
“In Malaysia co-ops are one of the biggest sectors
acting as engine for growth for our domestic
economy,” he said.
“When it comes to big co-operatives all of us
are having an equal say in the company. It doesn’t
matter how much money you have in that co-op.
You only have one say so the most important thing
in a co-operative is leadership.
“Having so many leaders from over 90 countries
is something we should be very proud of. We can
learn from each other.”
The minister announced he was working on a
new legislation for the country’s co-operatives that
would be ‘progressive’ and wanted to give more
opportunities to co-operatives to compete with any
sector in the country. Malaysia’s 12,000 co-ops have
more than seven million members and a combined
turnover of RM 34,950.98m (USD $8,126.29m).
Alliance president Monique Leroux told the
dinner: “We can never say enough about how much
the movement contributed to a better world.
“There is a wonderful diversity in this room, with
women, men, young and not so young people from
different countries. We are united in diversity.”
She added that in a complex world divided by
economic inequalities the co-operative movement
brought the message of peace, tolerance and respect
for others. “In fact, the co-operative movement
has always been destined to remain a modern
movement, always at the forefront of promising
social and economic innovations. This explains
why the co-operative movement is benefiting
not only its members but all people and why the
co-op movement is bringing positive changes in
communities and societies across the world.”
p Monique Leroux pays tribute to the co-op movement
20 | DECEMBER 2017