KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 8 – Consumers have been advised to use their purchasing power to control the prices of goods by spending at cooperative shops and Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia (KR1M). Angkatan Koperasi Kebangsaan Malaysia Berhad (Angkasa) president Datuk Abdul Fattah Abdullah said the country’s 12,500 cooperatives with eight million members could play an important role.
“Consumers can join these cooperatives. For example, retail cooperatives purchase goods in bulk directly from the factories at low prices, thus preventing profiteering by middlemen. Hypermarkets such as Mydin and Tesco can sell goods at low prices because they buy in bulk directly from the factories. If Malaysians want the market prices to be regulated, they must unite and use their purchasing power to boycott goods that are sold at unreasonable prices,” he said.
Abdul Fattah said about one quarter of the Malaysian population were members of cooperatives who enjoyed the benefit of purchasing goods at low prices. Angkasa is actively conducting programmes to educate the members of cooperatives on consumer awareness to stabilise the price of goods. He added that it is our responsibility to educate the cooperative members via courses on financial management and consumerism to turn them into smart consumers.
