Prime Minister, Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (3rd from left) & distinguished guest during the launch of Cooperative Month Celebration    

The Malaysian cooperatives are celebrating 100 years of the cooperative movement in July, with the theme ‘100 Years of Thriving Cooperative Movement.’ The momentous celebration was officiated on 02 July 2022 by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, which also coincided with the 100th International Day of Cooperatives 2022 (#CoopsDay 2022). Every year, the Malaysian cooperative movement celebrates the National Cooperative Day in July but this year, the Cooperative Day is expanded to the whole month of July through the National Cooperative Month Celebration.   Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob launched the 100 years cooperative commemorative coin and a corporate stamp.

Throughout the month, the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives (MEDAC) and all cooperative agencies and stakeholders including ANGKASA have planned numerous programs and activities nationwide. Among the activities were a career fair, business matching, fun run, bike tour, forum and symposium, basic goods low price sale, as well as an international cooperative exhibition (EksKOM) which took place at the end of July.

Commemorative coin & Corporate Stamp launched by the Prime Minister

ANGKASA’s initiatives for 100-year of the Malaysian Cooperative Movement

ANGKASA also plans to organize a series of events throughout 2022 in conjunction with the centennial anniversary of the Malaysian Cooperative movement. These are:

• National Public Speaking Competition for School Cooperatives in collaboration with the Cooperative Institute of Malaysia
• Malaysian Cooperative Expo in collaboration with the Malaysian Cooperative Societies Commission
• National Poetry Recital Competition for School Cooperatives
• Launching of CoopUmrah Exploration Programme
• National Petanque Competition
• Greening Malaysia: CSR CoopCare 1 million Trees Initiative

‘A Million Trees, A Mountain of Hopes’

CSR CoopCare is ANGKASA’s flagship programme for community care. Under the project, ANGKASA pulls resources into assisting communities through flood relief efforts, COVID-19 aid and  environmental awareness activities. Greening Malaysia: CSR CoopCare 1 Million Trees initiative  is the cooperative movement’s pledge to plant 1 million trees in support of the Malaysian Government’s Greening Malaysia Agenda. The government’s aims to plant 100 million trees by 2025, as a commitment to maintaining coverage of forested areas in Malaysia. Through this ANGKASA-led initiative, the cooperative movement throughout the country can participate to achieve SDG13: Climate Action of the Sustainable Development Goals 2030. ANGKASA is partnering with the ICA-AP Committee of Youth Cooperation (ICYC) to promote this initiative as part of the Go Green Campaign (GGC 4.0).

ANGKASA in collaboration with the Climate Change Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia published a module entitled ‘A Million Trees, A Mountain of Hopes’ to increase knowledge and cultivate environmental awareness among students (through school cooperatives) and local communities. Through collaboration with Forest Department, ANGKASA has identified a 24-acre degraded forest which will be restored by the planting of new forest trees. In near future, the international cooperative community will also be able to join this initiative by adopting a tree to be planted in this forest reserve area.

As part of the National Cooperative Month Celebration, on 17 July 2022, Tan Sri Noh Omar, the Minister of MEDAC launched Greening Malaysia: CSR CoopCare 1Million Trees initiative and the TOT Training Module at the National Botanical Park, Shah Alam, Malaysia. He planted the national forest tree; a Merbau tree; which was the 100th tree to be planted at the park as a symbol for the 100th year of the cooperative movement in Malaysia. The park will house 150 forest trees from various species. As of 2021, 27 million trees have been planted throughout Malaysia under the Greening Malaysia Agenda.