Deputy Dean of FEM IPB: Dozens of Thousands of Cooperatives in Indonesia Disband
The decreasing interest of the people who are involved in the field of cooperative in the digital era is increasingly alarming. Dozens of thousands of cooperatives that were established in Indonesia were disbanded because they were no longer active. This is a clear evidence of a decline in the existence of cooperatives among Indonesian people. This was stated by the Deputy Dean of Academic and Student Affairs FEM IPB as well as the supervisor of Kopma IPB, Dr. Ir. Lukman M. Baga in the Gebyar Koperasi National Seminar with the theme 'Challenges to Participate in Cooperatives in the Digital Era to Promote the Indonesian Economy' on Dramaga IPB Campus, Sunday (10/14). This activity was held by the Student Cooperative of Bogor Agricultural University (Kopma IPB). Students have an obligation to uplift the spirit of participating in cooperative in the era of digitalization 4.0. Counseling to the public about the benefits of participating in cooperatives needs to be proclaimed so that people understand the benefits of cooperating. The seminar also aims to create cadres who are able to introduce cooperative to the wider community.
Many things have caused a decline in community interest in participating in cooperatives. One of the causes is the lack of public knowledge about cooperatives. In addition, the emergence of individuals who only use cooperatives to obtain facilities exacerbates the image of cooperatives in Indonesia. News circulating in the community only tells about the negative side of cooperatives. Even though there are so many benefits when we become a member of a cooperative. In accordance with the main objective of the cooperative, which is to prosper its members. Cooperatives are economic organizations that prosper its members.
Furthermore, Dr. Ir. Lukman said that micro businesses with a revenue of Rp. 1-3 million per day had the highest productivity in cooperatives. Micro businesses have higher productivity than large, medium and small businesses. This shows that the cooperative is very friendly to the layers of society who are trying on a micro scale.
Cooperatives must be able to keep up with technological developments. Present day life is closely related to technological sophistication, so the role of cooperatives, which is known to be conventional, is no longer the center of attention of the present generation. Therefore, innovation in cooperatives in Indonesia is very necessary.
"Cooperatives need to rebranding in order to be able to increase their existence in the digital era. Various online businesses that are developing in Indonesia are generally only prosper of the company's investors. This creates a contradiction from the daily workers who do not prosper. Though the online business is on the rise. However, the biggest profit is only felt by business investors. So, many people are demanding to dissolve online businesses that are not fair in sharing the profits that have been obtained," said Dr. Lukman.
Co Secretary of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) of the Asia Pacific Youth Committee and CEO of InnoCircle.id, Anis Saadah offers a renewal of the cooperative system. "The handling of online business problems can be overcome by implementing a cooperative system in distributing profits to its members fairly. The distribution of profits can be distributed fairly in accordance with the portion of its membership in the cooperative," said Anis. (FM)
