SHAH ALAM, Aug 5: PAS has urged the Federal Government to hold a special Parliamentary session to debate the issue of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) which will be signed in October.
PAS Information Chief, Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Man said, the debate on the issue should be focused on if Malaysia should withdraw and reject the TPPA.
He said, the debate should also be joined by former statesman and the Bank Negara Governor, as well as institutions with economic expertise.
“It should be done before a decision is made, if no reason to reject it can be found, and then we can discuss why Malaysia should accept the TPPA.
“The Central Government should postpone the TPPA as long as the TPPA is not thoroughly debated and understood by the people,” he said in a media statement.
He added that Fitch Ratings, a global credit rating agency, has put Malaysia in a negative placement and the Ringgit has devalued sharply since Umno-BN received the mandated after the 13th General Election.
He said that this is a clear sign that the country’s economy is not ready and strong enough to enter into the TPPA.
He explained that the weakening economy gives the government no sufficient reason to negotiate and to ensure that the TPPA profits the country as a whole.
“Without capital controls and pegging the currency as an economic weapon of defense when attacked by world capitalists in 1997, the country will be easily pressed to accept aid from world financial institutions such as the IMAF, where the conditions are like a modern colonisation of small countries,” he said.
In relation to that, PAS is worried because in the TPPA, it is set in the Investor-state Dispute Settlement (ISDS) that any investor or foreign company is authorised to submit a lawsuit against the government in international courts.
“If this crisis happens, and the Ringgit devalues sharply, the inability for the country and local companies to bear the costs of a trial in the International Court will increase dramatically.
“This is very unfair for small countries entering into the TPPA.
“After negotiating 18 times, the TPPA content is still not publicly known, and what’s worse is that the International Trade and Industry Ministry is still keeping silent,” he said.
