opinion

TPPA is food for cancer

Rama Ramanathan

In my first article on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), I said some opponents gave the impression that it is a disease like tuberculosis.

After much reading, I’ve concluded that opponents of TPPA do so because they think it will establish a lifeline for the cancer of cronyism and corruption which afflicts Malaysia.

What have opinion leaders who oppose the TPPA said?

Maria Chin Abdullah, icon of Malaysia’s people movement, said “the TPPA cages the courts and allows decisions by the highest court in Malaysia to be challenged by private foreign corporations,” and “after the TPP, the Malaysian government will live in fear to legislate laws in public interest and this will [reduce the people’s] democratic rights.”

Gurdial Sing Nijar, a columnist and professor of law in one of our best-known universities, said to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry: “You must by now know that no single issue has ever caused such consternation among our people – of all races, religions, views and disciplines – surely there must be sufficient humility to acknowledge that you cannot possibly be the only repository of all learning and wisdom in this matter.”

Dr Ong Kian Ming, a bright and dedicated opposition MP, said he worries the TPP will allow foreign workers to unionise and gain better benefits than locals; he said this may “result in a situation where non-Malaysian plantation workers are able to negotiate a better deal from their employers than their Malaysian counterparts because of their strength in numbers relative to the number of Malaysians who are still in this sector.”

Michael Kang, president of the Malaysian Small and Medium Size Industry Association (which I’d not heard of before) is reported to have said “about 30% of small and medium companies risk going under once the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) comes into force in two years as they would have trouble meeting higher labour and environmental standards under the agreement.”

I cannot give a full account of everything said by those whom I have named. I can only say that some of their comments are bizarre, while others contain a modicum of truth.

Opponents of the TPPA either have opposed the agreement outright or called for a longer period of consultation before ratifying it.

Discussants often speak as if they know the intricate details in the agreement. The reality is, they do not: the agreement is said to cover 6,300 pages, has been released in 237 separate documents and contains abstruse definitions and clauses.

So, why do the discussants speak so confidently about the consequences of the TPPA?

They speak not from knowledge of the balance or imbalance between TPPA pluses and minuses. They speak from what they know of the state of the nation and the health of the regime.

We are a plundered nation whose government is driven by the cancer of cronyism and corruption.

Those who oppose the TPPA do so because they think a government afflicted with the cancer of cronyism and corruption has no business making long term agreements with foreign partners.

The foreign partners should also be ashamed of themselves for making making an agreement with a corrupt regime – an agreement which privileges entities (companies) which are regime-controlled.

Opponents believe nothing good can come of a government whose prime minister remains in office while he is investigated for allegations of corruption – and eliminates those in his government who are critical of his actions. That’s the long and the short of it, and I agree with them. That’s what the opposition is about.

As someone once pointed out, cancer is a monster of productivity. The TPPA, crafted by a regime which remains in office through cronyism and corruption, will only make the monster more productive.

Therefore the regime, the TPPA, and the 11 “partner nations,” must be opposed. – January 21, 2016.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.