A Parliamentary Caucus on Cooperatives has been set up to provide comprehensive information on cooperatives to parliamentary members.

Its chairman, Budiman Mohd Zuhdi, who is Sungai Besar Member of Parliament (MP), said it would also enable MPs to obtain input on cooperatives so that any issue and problem of cooperatives could be debated indepth in the parliamentary session next month.

"In the last parliamentary session, I found there was not much debate on cooperative issues, despite the many issues that require attention.

"Through this caucus, the Members of Parliament will be exposed to information on cooperatives so that they can discuss and debate on the matter in the next parliamentary session," he told reporters after an information gathering session organised by Angkatan Koperasi Kebangsaan Malaysia Berhad (Angkasa) here today.

Also present was Angkasa president Datuk Abdul Fattah Abdullah.

At the event, Budiman, who is a member of the Cooperative College of Malaysia Board of Directors, launched a book jointly written with Batu Pahat Smallholders Cooperative chairman Dr Hayati Md Salleh.

The book, with the title 'Hayati Nilai Koperasi Semaikan Budi', contains, among others, this history on the establishment of a cooperative, its structure and principles and the national cooperative policy.

-- BERNAMA