KUALA LUMPUR: There are 95,694 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) registered in Malaysia, excluding political NGOs, says Federal Territories Registrar of Societies' director Mohammad Akhir Abdul Rahman.
He said this comprises 85,023 main organisations and 10,671 branch organisations.
Mohammad Akhir said there are 11 categories of societies in the country, which include political, recreational, religion, welfare and charity, social, security, commerce, professional, human rights, arts and culture and mutual benefit.
"Under Article 10(1)(c), all citizens have the right to form associations, and under Article 10(2)(c), such restrictions as it deems necessary or expedient in the interest of the security of the Federation or any part thereof, public order or morality," he said.
However, he highlighted the risk of NGOs being misused, given their high public trust.
"What will happen if they fail to implement good governance? They could be used for money laundering and terrorist financing.
"We have to acknowledge that globally, criminals exploit NGOs as platforms for various illicit activities, whether cross-border or local," he said.
Akhir stressed the importance of registering societies under the Registrar of Societies (RoS), noting that societies can carry out transactions both domestically and internationally.
"One of the key benefits of being a registered society is having a bank account in the society's name.
"This facilitates receiving donations from the public, political members, government-linked companies, or multinational companies, rather than using personal accounts.
"If you use your registered society account, it increases public trust and transparency in managing the organisation," he said.
Additionally, he said 14,307 registered societies were revoked between 2021 and 2023.
He said this was primarily because they failed to submit their annual reports to the RoS, which is proof of conducting an annual meeting.
"An important item on the agenda during the annual meeting is to present the audited account. Some societies fail to conduct their annual meetings because they don't want to share or haven't prepared audited accounts, which is compulsory," he said.