Drs. Robby Tulus pioneered the Credit Union Movement in Indonesia in the late 1960s, and co-founded the Credit Union Counseling/Central Organization (CUCO) in Indonesia. He has served as Regional Director for Asia Pacific of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA, based in New Delhi and Singapore: 1996-2002). Robby is very active looking at new generation coops with a multi-stakeholder concept.
How did you get involved in the book?
In 2014, during the ICA-AP Regional Assembly in Nusa Dua, Bali, I was approached by Prof. Akira Kurimoto and Dr. Anthony Jensen about their initiative to publish a book on Cooperatives in Asia-Pacific that would be written by scholars and researchers from the Asia-Pacific region. The argument was that well-established books on cooperative issues were mostly written by Western scholars and researchers until then, and it would be good if one is written from the perspectives of Asian scholars and/or researchers. Since I have been involved in doing research on cooperatives in Indonesia, and in my previous role as Regional Director of ICA-AP in conducting public policy forums, I was asked to join the Editorial Team of the Asia Pacific Research Cooperative Partnership, chaired by Dr. Anthony Jensen, which I gratefully accepted.
What was your experience as you interacted with the editors and authors on the book?
It was a humbling yet awe-inspiring experience to have interacted with so many academics as editors representing their respective universities. Not being a scholar myself, though keen as a cooperative researcher and practitioner, I do not represent any university. However, I am grateful to have had the opportunity of being mentored by (the late) Prof. Dr Ian MacPherson during my time at the Canadian Cooperative Association and ICA-AP, understanding the trajectory of publishing the background paper of the 1995 Statement of the Cooperative Identity, called the “Declaration towards the 21st Century”. More indebted to him after he asked me to join the British Columbia Institute of Cooperative Studies (BCICS) of the University of Victoria, as an Associate, in the early 2000s. Therefore, my interactions with fellow editors who have such distinguished academic credentials on cooperatives, i.e. Anthony Jensen, Morris Altman, Akira Kurimoto, Yashavantha Dongre, and Seungkwon Jang, have been most rewarding as I could witness their high-quality discernment in reviewing the theoretical themes as well as practical case studies on co-operatives.
What are the key takeaways from the Asian cooperatives experience?
It reaffirms the immense diversity of cooperatives in Asia-Pacific in terms of size, sector, geography, demography, and stages of development which is obviously a product of the political, socio-economic and socio-cultural realities in the region. While membership and the number of cooperatives in Asia-Pacific are the biggest globally, the size of business and economic infrastructure is nonetheless far less than those in the West, with the exception of more developed economies such as Japan, Korea and Singapore. Case studies in this book substantiated the dominant role still played by governments in the region, and as a result the top-down nature of cooperative development supersedes the bottom-up approaches. The latter displays a development model that is distinguishable from member-initiated model in the Western world. That being said, best practices of cooperative development in a number of countries in Asia bear evidence of cooperatives becoming more autonomous and independent, emulating good governance and leadership, hence potentially capturing the imaginations of millions of people still left behind. I hope that the second book will gain more research-based case studies with improved and well-designed database that is ostensibly lacking in populous developing countries in Asia. The shortfall of accurate and reliable data in many countries, especially in the developing market economies, is currently posing a formidable challenge in the process of waking the potential of Asian co-operatives.
The book states while cultural, ethnic, or religious attributes which are consistent with cooperative values and principles can have a positive effect for cooperatives this has not been incorporated in the Asian context. Can you give direction on how this can be done? Are there countries where we can draw examples from?
A comprehensive theoretical explanation on this important question is credibly captured in Chapter 9 of the book “The theoretical model of Asian capitalism and the varieties of cooperation” by Anthony Jensen. He quoted Gary Cronan’s biological metaphor that “one can plant cooperatives in different soils across Asia and the co-operative will grow differently due to institutional failure, public policy, historical and cultural factors”. The book also illustrates that there is no common “Asian Values” as one would like to admit, apart from a broader characterization of Asians who are generally more tolerant, caring and welcoming.
The credit cooperative sector to which I have been assigned to review, showed that the credit union movement in Asia has been by and large a model which origins was driven by the values inherent in the Jesuit community through SELA (Socio Economic Life in Asia), a religious yet neutral attribute promoting the spirit of self-help and mutual help. The global genesis being the Raiffeisen model, developed from the ground up, is further vertically integrated all the way from local, national, regional and international levels. As a result, operating standards and institutional integration - although not easy - are continuously being pursued in Asia by the Asian Confederation of Credit Unions (ACCU) with great intensity. It could be argued that the savings and loan co-operative sector is less complicated to standardise at various levels – from local to regional to global - compared to the more intricate sector such as agriculture in the countryside, to which governments maintain greater interest, as well as policy justification, to intervene. The efforts undertaken by the ICA Asia Pacific through its well-designed sectoral committees could provide much better answers to this predicament. Historical, political, and cultural factors nationally and sub-regionally must have contributed to the divergent growth of agricultural, consumer and worker co-operatives in the region as illustrated in this book.
On a country level however, positive lessons could be drawn from well-established co-operatives such as the Amul dairy co-operatives and IFFCO’s Fertilizer cooperatives in India, as well as Zennoh in Japan and NACF in Korea. I assume cultural attributes play a role in it too since these successful agricultural-based co-operatives seem more deeply rooted in their local communities and highly integrated all the way from the village, district and state levels, despite active involvement of their respective governments at the outset. In the same manner that the Han cultural norm has been prominent in the Consumer Co-operative movement in Japan that has no government involvement whatsoever. Another people-driven initiative without government involvement is the SANASA case study in this book. Religious underpinnings, notably the Buddhist religion, seem to have played a leading role and showed that the savings and loan co-operatives triggered the establishment of other community-based organisms under the SANASA umbrella to respond to their felt and actual needs. The Case Study of Keling Kumang in Indonesia provides more insight as to how ethnicity (the Dayak Tribe) played a significant role in the development of this credit union. While acknowledging that some of my arguments contain logical shortcomings, I still firmly belief that the extent to which co-operative development could prevail and be able to sustain depend in large part due to visionary leaders who are identified and democratically elected by well-informed members.
How is this book relevant during the current COVID-19 crisis?
An important lesson learned from case studies in this book is that successful cooperatives are driven more by micro than macro factors. Micro factors are represented by self-help and self-reliance, local-initiatives, and active member participation. Despite the fact that this book was printed just as the COVID-19 crisis was emerging, one could draw from the case studies that co-operative resilience in the face of disasters and economic crisis was omnipresent. During an International Webinar on 7th May on the occasion of IKOPIN’s Anniversary, I showed the resiliency of Keling Kumang credit union in Indonesia, in addition to so many other co-operatives in the Asia Pacific region, not mentioned in this book, that have demonstrated their unfailing responses to the Pandemic by helping members and frontline workers with preventive measures.
Where micro factors are pervasive, case studies in this book showed that cooperatives have succeeded in responding the members’ needs first and foremost, and also succeeded in resisting, adapting and even manipulating the macro factors. In other words, strong visionary leadership that has the trust and support from members at the grassroots level, has a trickle-up effect due to local ownership. The book once again shows that successful co-operatives in the region have developed models that are driven by factors internal to the organisation based on local wisdom, hence explaining the inherent attributes of culture, ethnicity and religion.
Where do you see opportunities for co-operatives during these times? Could you locate this 1) in the Indonesia context and 2) for credit unions in the region?
As mentioned above, the resilience of cooperatives cannot be undermined. Cooperatives foster the creation of "social capital". While doing business, cooperative places not just the human being at the centre but above all the relations among the human beings. They are important because they constitute the basis for pooling of resources, for the safety and soundness of the business upon which moral communities can be built. Human capital seeks to advance good decision-making, whereas social capital seeks to improve the ability of collective decision making. The following cases demonstrate the opportunities for co-operatives and credit unions during this COVID-19 disruption:
One recent case in Indonesia, not covered in the book, is the Livestock and Dairy Co-operative (KPBS) in South Bandung, West Java. While many businesses are collapsing despite instilling cost-cutting measures, the KPBS is growing exponentially. The COVID-19 Pandemic has increased community’s awareness of the need for more nutritious diet, primarily fresh milk. Aun Gunawan, Chair of KPBS, stated that demand for fresh milk and its value-added products is rising rapidly. With increasing demand in the market KPBS is being prompted to innovate and has since developed its own mobile application, and established a server with its own data centre. In addition to producing pasteurized milk, KPBS also produced yogurt, cheese and butter. They have 4,229 members on the high plains of Pengalengan, South Bandung, with assets of 146,61 Billion Rupiah (US$ 10.74 Million) and business turnover of 281,28 Billion Rupiah (US$ 20.09 Million). KPBS production capacity of fresh milk is 75,000 Kgs per day. In an effort to provide better services to members KPBS has built its own KPBS General Hospital that is currently being readied to become operational. (KOMPAS Newspaper, July 15, 2020)
In the region, the Asian Confederation of Credit unions (ACCU) had recently conducted a comprehensive survey on the credit union response to COVID19. It was an excellent survey, and results from respondents in the Region provide a clear data base for ACCU to advance and broaden its valuable services to members in the Asia region. To avoid being pre-emptive, I wish to just acknowledge how meticulous data and information have been collected, and present an abbreviated version thereof, as follows: (a) Challenges of COVID-19 to Individual Members of Credit Unions, (b) Challenges of COVID-19 to Credit Union Staffs, and (c) Challenges of COVID-19 to Credit Unions. Based on the baseline data received, ACCU has defined 5 strategic roles to support the member Federations and Credit Unions in responding to the impacts of COVID-19, essentially (a) As a ‘Think Tank”, undertaking research and development to generate new ideas to motivate members during COVID-19; (b) “Building CU Business Solutions”, provide technological and business products to help members; (c) “Development”, provide or facilitate financial support to fight COVID-19; (d) “Representation”, provide legal/regulatory assistance and networks for members; (e) “Advocacy”, lobbying and reaching out to government & global organizations to help members and sustain Co-op Identity.
The COVID-19 pandemic has put adoption of technology at the centre. How can cooperatives capitalize on this to improve member engagement?
COVID-19 has shown that while technology could augment and supplement work in a cooperative, it could not replace members’ capacity to identify and fulfil their needs and aspirations. However, human and technology are more powerful together than either can be on its own. Consumer co-operatives in particular can capitalize on an integrated member-machine team to get their groceries delivered and thus avoid crowding in consumer stores during this health crisis. To improve member engagement, the path during COVID-19 must be filled with innovations to attain meaningful change. It means putting members’ wellbeing front and centre as their physical, mental and financial security are paramount. Innovation means using data-driven approach to better understand members’ unique attributes and needs just as the above-mentioned survey of ACCU signifies.
Cooperatives must embrace a future orientation, not just optimizing what is good for today, but also how to create value for tomorrow. The more members feel their needs and aspirations met during the crisis, the more risks can be reduced and values enhanced. In that way cooperatives in Post COVID-19 environment will not be falling behind but are already building sustainability by fulfilling members’ needs here and now. Rather than shrinking from the oncoming winds of change, coops have to draw energy from it. In the end analysis, co-operatives remain distinctly human in the current technological-driven world.
