Cancellation of RM50mil promised to Kojadi a revenge

KUALA LUMPUR - The Finance Ministry has cancelled the RM50mil allocation funds to Koperasi Jayadiri Malaysia Bhd (Kojadi), as promised in Budget 2018.

The funds were supposed to assist Chinese small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

“If this is not revenge, what is it?” asked MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong during a press conference after the party’s 65th annual general assembly’s opening yesterday.

“The Finance Ministry did not allocate any funds for Kojadi in 2019. And now, they are not distributing the funds allocated in Budget 2018, and endorsed by Parliament,” he said.

In Budget 2018, former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced that the government would provide the RM50mil as loans for the SMEs through Kojadi. Kojadi is an investment arm of MCA.

It was reported that MCA aimed to obtain a licence to upgrade the co-operative to a bank.

At the press conference yesterday, Dr Wee said Kojadi received the news via a letter issued by the Finance Ministry.

“Suddenly, they called off the RM50mil which was promised by the previous government.

“This is something new. I think that shows how petty and unreasonable the present government is,” he said.

The calling off of the grant came in the wake of open spats between MCA leaders and Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng over the allocation of operating funds for Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (TAR UC).

Lim insisted in Parliament recently that MCA sever its ties with Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) and TAR UC.

Only then would the government provide more allocation for the two institutions.

Lim also announced RM5.5mil in development funds for TAR UC, saying that he could consider giving it more in the future if it severed ties with MCA, adding that education and politics should not mix.

Last year, TAR UC received RM30mil in matching grants from the government.

Founded in 1981, Kojadi offers a variety of education and business loans to its members, such as for SMEs, for local and higher education overseas, the Retailers Trans­for­mation Programme (TUKAR), Automotive Workshop Moder­ni­sation Programme (ATOM), property loans and microcredit.

In a statement on its website in May, Kojadi said its operations were not affected by the results of the recent general election as it was an autonomous entity owned by over 60,000 members of all races and operated in accordance with the Co-operative Societies Act, 1993 under the supervision of and regulation by the Malaysia Co-operative Societies Commission.