As Important As To The Establishment Of The Cooperative Supervisory Authority?

Photo: Doc. Antara

JAKARTA - Chairman of the Indonesian Cooperative Forum (Forkopi) Andy Arslan Djunaid said that one of the proposals contained in the Draft Law on Cooperatives was the establishment of the Cooperative Supervisory Authority (OPK) under the auspices of the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs.

"There is a problem in 8 cooperatives or under the guise of cooperatives, one of which is due to a lack of supervision, so that in the Cooperative Bill which is currently in process, cooperative supervision is strengthened," said Andy Arslan Djunaid, quoted from Antara, Tuesday, February 28.

OPK members will later be filled by elements of the government and Forkopi also propose that members of the Cooperative Movement are also involved in order to accommodate input from cooperative members.

Andy also emphasized that the cooperative is ready to be monitored but it would be better to supervise it directly by the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs.

Therefore, the OPK will only supervise closed loop cooperatives or cooperatives originating from members and for members alias only provide services to cooperative members. Meanwhile, cooperatives that are open loops or who also serve loans to non-members are supervised by the Financial Services Authority.

"Currently, the opinion of cooperatives is developing, it doesn't want to be monitored, it's not like that. We still want to be monitored but with the right conditions. We have our father, the Ministry of Cooperatives, why don't we tighten supervision at the cooperative, not in other institutions," he said.

Then Forkopi also proposed that the establishment of a Cooperative Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPSK) be included in the revision of Law no. 25 of 1992 concerning Cooperatives. In addition to including cooperative education points in the official curriculum in schools and universities.

"Hopefully these proposals will be considered because we are not only thinking about each of us but also the future of cooperatives to be attractive to young people," said Andy.

Previously, Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki said the revision of the Cooperative Law was aimed at preventing financial criminals in banking from moving to cooperatives because the government currently does not have the authority to supervise cooperatives.

"Because currently at KSP the rules are still weak. I have conveyed this to President Jokowi," he said in Jakarta, Thursday, February 8.