Do you know what a cooperative is? Cooperative is a business entity that organizes the utilization and utilization of the economic resources of its members on the basis of cooperative principles and economic business principles to improve the standard of living of members in particular and the working area community in general.
Cooperatives are a people’s economic movement. Cooperative activities are based on the principle of the people’s economic movement based on the principle of kinship. Cooperatives in Indonesia are regulated in Law number 25 of 1992 concerning Cooperatives.
The history of cooperatives in Indonesia began in 1886, when the Pamong Praja Patih R.Aria Wiria Atmaja in Purwokerto established a bank for civil servants (priyayi). He founded the Bank with the aim of helping employees who are increasingly suffering from being ensnared by loan sharks who provide high-interest loans. Patih’s ideals were developed by a Dutch resident assistant, De Wolf Van Westerrode. He suggested turning the bank into a cooperative.
Then in 1908, Raden Soetomo founded the association “Budi Utomo” to take advantage of the cooperative sector for the welfare of the poor. Starting from small industries and handicrafts, the Budi Utomo Congress also made improvements by increasing the intelligence of the people in Yogyakarta.
In 1915, the first cooperative law was issued, namely “Verordening Op De Cooperatieve Vereeniging” which has the same sound as the law for the Indonesian people, the articles of association of the cooperative must be in Dutch and drawn up before a notary.
In 1927, the Islamic Trade Union was formed with the aim of fighting for the economic position of indigenous entrepreneurs. In 1929, the Indonesian National Party was founded with the aim of spreading the spirit of cooperatives in the country. The development of cooperatives in Indonesia does not always run smoothly, in 1933 with the issuance of Law no. 431 thus shutting down the cooperative business.
When Japan occupied Indonesia in 1942, Japan established a kumiyai cooperative. At the beginning this cooperation was running well. However, its function changed drastically and became a Japanese tool to make profits and misery the Indonesian people.
On July 12, 1947, the Indonesian government held the First Cooperative Congress in Tasikmalaya, West Java. This congress resulted in several important decisions, namely establishing the Central Indonesian People’s Cooperative Organization (SOKRI), establishing mutual cooperation as the principle of cooperatives, setting July 12 as Cooperative Day.
Then, the Second Cooperative Congress was born in 1953 in Bandung, West Java. The result of this second congress was that the replacement for SOKRI, namely the Indonesian Cooperative Council (Dekopin), as one of the subjects at school, appointed Moh. Hatta as the father of Indonesian cooperatives, a new cooperative law will soon be enacted.
Such is the history of the establishment of cooperatives in Indonesia. Currently, there are around 152,000 more cooperatives that are categorized as active. There are still many challenges to make cooperatives a pillar of the nation’s economy. It takes hard work to achieve this. It is hoped that you can be a part of advancing cooperatives in Indonesia.
Happy 74th Cooperative Day!