KUALA LUMPUR: Amendments to the Co-operative Societies Act 1993 (Act 502) has been tabled for its first reading in the Dewan Rakyat today by Deputy Entrepreneur Development And Cooperatives Minister Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin.
The bill, among others, provides that a co-operative society which consists of at least 20 persons may be registered as a primary co-operative society.
Currently, a co-operative society is required to consist of at least 50 people before it can be registered as a primary co-operative society.
Clause 3 of the bill seeks to amend the current requirement on signing the application form for registration of a primary co-operative society from 10 people to only five.
"Subclause 3(b) seeks to amend paragraph 6(2)(b) of Act 502 to require minutes of the inaugural general meeting submitted together with the application for registration of a primary co-operative society to be signed by at least ten persons present.
"Currently, at least 25 persons present are required to sign the minutes," the bill read.
Apart from that, the Act will also see changes in the number of required board members of a co-operative society from six to three.
"Clause 6 of the bill seeks to amend paragraph 24(1)(a) of the Act to allow the transfer of shares, returns or interest to a person nominated by a deceased member who was a Muslim and to provide for a provision on the validity of any nomination of a nominee by a Muslim member of a co-operative society made before the date of coming into operation of this Act."
The bill to amend Act 502 will also provide that the funds of a co-operative society may be raised through a loan from any licensed financial institution in and co-operative society as determined by the Cooperatives Commission of Malaysia (SKM).
Under the new amendments, SKM will have the power to revoke the registration of a co-operative society if the number of its members has been reduced to less than five.
Currently, SKM May revoke the registration of a co-operative if the number of its members has been reduced to less than fifteen.
This bill does not require any extra financial expenditure from the government.