Forming a registered society in Malaysia

So, you've decided to start a non-profit organisation to further a cause that you’re truly passionate about. 

You’ve got a group of people who want to be a part of it. Brainstorming sessions have commenced. A vision and mission statement has been agreed on. Everyone is really excited and can’t wait to get started!!

Then, someone asks “So, er..how we do this from a regulatory perspective?” And this question might be met with “err…” or “ummm…”, dead silence, or frenetic googling for the answer. 

Look no further, hopefully, this blog post will help shed some light on what to do next.

First and foremost, why bother to set up a formal structure? Why can’t non-profit organisations just regulate themselves?

The main issue is actually, handling of funds. A non-profit organisation needs to raise funds in order to carry out its activities. And in order to raise funds, it needs a bank account. It also needs to be a legitimate organisation, if the intention is to collect funds from members of the public. And eventually, you might want tax-exempt status for your organisation, so that you can raise funds from corporate sponsors. To do this, your organisation needs to be lawfully registered.

OK, so a charitable or non-profit organisation in Malaysia has a choice of vehicles it could set up in order to register itself. While there are a variety of these depending on the type of organisation, the legal instrument that creates it, as well as existing statutes, let’s look at the most common vehicle, a registered society, first.

The first to do would be to visit the website of the Jabatan Pendaftaran Pertubuhan Malaysia, or Registar of Societies (also known as ROS). Go to http://www.ros.gov.my.

On the landing page of this website, go to the section marked “Perkhidmatan” and click on “Panduan Pengurusan Pertubuhan”. (For those who are not fluent in Bahasa Malaysia, you can translate the entire page by clicking on the icon on the top right hand corner of the page).

Once you’ve clicked on the link “Panduan Pengurusan Pertubuhan”, you’ll get to a menu which allows you to view a variety of documents.

We’ve pasted the table and a translation below:

-Contoh Undang-undang Tubuh Pertubuhan (Sample Constitution)

-Kelulusan Menubuhkan Cawangan Pertubuhan (Approval to set up branches)

-Pendaftaran Bendera, Lambang, Lencana Atau Lain-Lain Insignia Pertubuhan (Registration of flag/emblems/badge or other insignia)

-Pendaftaran Pegawai Awam (Registration of Public Official)

-Pendaftaran Pertubuhan Induk (Registration of Parent Organisation)

-Pengesahan Pegawai Harta (Verification of officer in charge of assets)

-Penghantaran Penyata Tahunan (Lodgement of Annual Returns)

-Permintaan Supaya Dibatalkan Perakuan Pendaftaran (Request to Revoke Registration)

-Permohonan Untuk Membuat Carian/Mendapatkan Dokumen (Searches, Access to Documents)

-Pindaan Undang-Undang Tubuh (Constitutional Amendments)

If you click on any of these links on the webpage, you’ll be able to access the actual rules and regulations, and download the relevant PDF documents.

You’ll need to have all this information and draft documentation ready before going to the ROS online portal in order to actually register the society. The portal is accessible at http://www.eroses.gov.my/ros. Once a profile is created and the administrator of the account (who must be the Secretary of the organisation)logs in, he/she will see a list of drop down menus full of empty fields and text  boxes which must be completed and, once complete, submitted to ROS via the eROSes portal. Then, you’ll need to wait for ROS to vet all the documents, and if everything is in order, a certification of registration will be issued with a number for your registered society.

The above is a macro overview of the end-to-end process. In the next post, we’ll provide a step-by-step practical guide to registration.