IN INDONESIA

8th december 2000 - Jakarta - CUCO Indonesia Mr. Trisna Ansarli, a former school teacher, former volunteer in a local Credit Union, and employee since 1981 of the national coordination presents us with a lot of enthusiasm the practice of the cooperative principles in the Indonesian Credit Unions. A Credit Union is a credit cooperative that provides loans only to its members. Those benefit also from the cooperative principles such as one man/one vote at the annual general assembly and a collective profit sharing. The CUCO is the Indonesian part of a more global movement, strongly established in many countries (Ireland, USA, Canada, Great-Britain...). After 5 years of preparation and market studies, the first Credit Union is launched in 1970 with a minimum of 20 members per Credit Union. They receive the support of the German Adenauer Foundation (that we already heard of in Thailand) and are inspired by the Raiffeisen model (a Germa practioner and theoricien of cooperative banking in the XIXth century). In 1972, the first regional coordination, chapter, is created, and the current version of the national Coordination (Credit Union Coordination of Indonesia - CUCO) is launched in 1981. Currently, the movement is composed of 1105 Credit Union, 27 regional chapters, 252 000  members, located all over the Indonesian archipelago. The total amount of savings reaches Rupiah 120 billions ($ 12.5 million) and loans outstandings Rupiah 135 billions ($ 14 millions). 70 % of the Credit Union are based in rural and remote areas and even if they are not exclusively focused on low income houselholds , they operate a micro-credit program dedicated to poor people. These micro-credits are mainly used for micro-business creations and agricultural activities. The Credit Union loans last 36 months maximum, with an average of 12 months. It is a monthly repayment, with 2 to 3 percent interest rate per month (inflation : 8 to 12 %) which is below the banking sector. The repayment rate reaches 93 to 95 %. One member cannot borrow more than 10 % of his Credit Union assets. The 1998 financial crisis that led many banks to bankrupcy has not affected the Credit Unions since they lend only their own resources and not eratic foreign capitals. Regarding their relations with the Indonesian State, at the opposite of lots of others cooperatives in this country, the Credit Unions keep their independence, though getthing a legal recognition. However they suffer from the bad image of the cooperative sector often seen by the population as nothing but a public sector. Thus the Credit Unions try to promote true cooperative values : self-reliance, solidarity and education/training. The latter applies equaly to the borrowers, the volunteers members of Credit Unions boards and Supervision Councils and to the Credit Union managers. Mr Trisna Ansarli insists on the need for Credit Unions to become more professional, keeping though the volunteers' monitoring. The main partners of CUCO are the Asian Conference of Credit Unions (mainly for training programs), a German NGO (Miserial) and the Canadian Cooperative Association.

27th December 2000 - Denpasar - Bali - Practises in Indonesia - Primary Credit Union We are warmly zelcome byl the Credit Union team, the 5 employees (Ni Luh Riasti, Ni Made Suryawati, Ni Nyoman Antini, Luhoe Sartini et Paiwin) and the former treasurer, John Rajawli (5 members in the boarding committee and 3 in the supervisory committee).. This Credit Union was created in 1991. It is one of the 15 C.U. in Bali and has currently 471 members, including 187 women. Last year, 322 members borrowed  the C.U. a total amount of Rp 1,675 billion ($ 800 000) out of Rp 3,400 billions deposit ($ 400 000). Each member is allowed to borrow 5 times the amount of his deposit in the C.U. The interest rate is 2 or 2.25 %, that is to say 1 point less than the banking sector. The loans can be either cusumption loans (33% of the loans, over 2 years) or business loans (66 %, over 6 years). Moreover, he benefits from : - a simple administrative procedure and a personalized relationship - a right to express and vote at the anual general assembly - a monthly access to the C.U. figures - a social fund that allocates members money for children education, medecine... - in case of death, the debt has not to be paid back by the family and the savings are given back to the family. To obtain a loan, a member has to : - fulfill a form - find a referent to guarantee his reliability - and for any loan above Rp 2,5 millions ($ 300), bring a collateral. In this case the final decision is up to the boarding committee. According to M. John Rajawli, "the C.U. helps many members surviving".