KUALA LUMPUR, June 5 — The new RM50 million fund for Chinese entrepreneurs will hopefully reduce the role of loan sharks in the country, popularly known as “Ah Longs”, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today.

The loan scheme is to be handled by MCA’s cooperative arm Kojadi.

“I also hope that by having this new scheme, we can reduce the role of ‘Ah Longs’ in the country,” Najib said to applause and mild laughter from the crowd.

“We don’t want ‘Ah Longs’ to be more successful. We want real institutions and schemes that can benefit the people like the scheme that we are going to launch today — certainly a major source of funding for the SMEs,” he added before launching the RM50 million Kojadi SME Loan Scheme for Chinese entrepreneurs.

The soft loan for Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) was announced last year during Budget 2015, with Najib saying today that he had decided to let Kojadi handle it, as MCA should be given consideration as Barisan Nasional (BN)’s “old friend” and a suitable body was needed for the loan scheme to be successful.

He also pointed to Kojadi’s proven track record and recognition as the country’s sole five-star cooperative, as well as its success in ensuring a low rate of 1.7 per cent non-performing loans for its study loan.

Kojadi had distributed over RM239 million in study loans to more than 11,200 students. It has also been managing the 1MCA Micro Credit Loan since 2012 and distributed RM19.4 million to 1,114 young entrepreneurs.

Najib said he was informed that the Treasury has given its approval for loans to be distributed within two weeks’ time, also adding that Kojadi has received hundreds of enquiries well before the loan scheme’s launch today.

He also launched the Secretariat for the Advancement of Malaysian Entrepreneurs (Same), a unit formed by minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong on October 1, 2014 to act as a one-stop centre that will connect SMEs with venture capitalists and government agencies.

Earlier today, Wee similarly noted that many SMEs had resorted to loan sharks for financial aid, as they were unable to meet the requirements of commercial banks for conventional loans.