The late Dato N.A. Kularajah aka father of co-operatives “in Malaysian as born in 1921 and departed on 17th may 1996. He will always remember for his most significant contribution to the development of international of cooperation, particularly in the fields of insurance, consumer and banking cooperation. He is a man with goodwill and goodness radiated by the personality through the many things that he has done for so many.
Enche N.A Kularajah first entered the cooperative movement in 1940 in Singapore while being in the government service. At the age of 29, he had already distinguished himself to be given positions of leadership within the movement in Singapore. In the fifties, he stood out as the most outstanding cooperator in Singapore and also gained prominence as a union leader.
At the same time Kularajah was becoming increasingly prominent in the Malaysian movement and etching a reputation with his dynamic approach. In the late fifties with the organization of the MCIS he became one of its devoted promoters and organizers. He was the president of the society from 1959 until 1961.
It was in 1961, while Kularajah was the chairman of the MCIS that he offered to resign from its chairmanship and offered to become its general manager, so that he could devote his full time and attention face the challenge, the tremendous challenge to provide leadership and activity to overcome the difficulties faced by the MCIS. His desires was to pull up the society from its sluggish movement And to make it a dynamic cooperative institution that was going to play a most outstanding and far reaching role not only in the cooperative movement but in the country as a whole. Kularajah determined to make the MCIS stand as a symbol of cooperative progress throughout Asia.
This super charged dynamo, Kularajah, knew that he would be more than able to overcome the challenge and to place the society on a pedestal that is not made of clay but of solid rock and steel. He revolutionized the cooperative concept of living in this country and the insurance industry in the country as well.
Kularajah’s achievement was doubtlessly an extraordinary, It became apparent as in Malaysia today. MCIS is a household name and in turn Kularajah has also become a household name.
In 1965, he became president of the co-operative union of Malaysia which position he held until his death in 1996. He also served in various committees on cooperative matters and insurance both in the national and international arena in addition to holding positions of responsibilities in a number of other cooperatives.