PETALING JAYA, July 13 ― Opposition critics of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) have found an unlikely ally in Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, after the former prime minister openly roasted Putrajaya for its intention to sign on with the opaque deal.
“Look at all the agreements we have entered into and you will find practically none of them favours us,” he wrote on his personal blog at chedet.cc.
“Now we want to swallow the American conceived TPP, Trans Pacific Partnership. This is another attempt by America to let their huge corporations penetrate the domestic markets of the small countries, in particular government procurements.”
That the US is seen as the prime mover of the TPPA will undoubtedly gall Dr Mahathir, a frequent and outspoken critic of the global superpower and its foreign policies, especially in the Middle East.
His animosity for the US attained its zenith during the 1997/1998 Asian financial crisis when currency speculators such as American billionaire George Soros were blamed for betting against the ringgit and other Asian currencies, causing the near-ruin of some countries and severely rolled back Malaysia’s progress achieved under Dr Mahathir’s tenure.
The United States’ open support for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim following the former deputy prime minister’s sacking by Dr Mahathir in 1998 also added to his distaste for the country.
“When the GATT (General Agreement on Trade and Tariff) failed they invented WTO (World Trade Organisation) for the same purpose. That also failed. They then invented APEC. Still they cannot achieve their objective. They introduced bilateral free trade agreements. Then they promoted a Globalised World, a world without borders in which their money can go anywhere, destroy economies and then pull out. In case we have forgotten they did this in 1997/8,” wrote Dr Mahathir.
“And now they invented TPP, a partnership of unequal, of the strong to take advantage of the weak.”
On Wednesday, Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers pressed Putrajaya to explain the rationale for wanting to join the TPPA that they say brings scant financial benefit but will cause Malaysians to pay more for medicine and open up government to lawsuits from global firms.
Kelana Jaya MP Wong Chen noted then that the government stood to net only RM3 billion from the proposed free trade agreement, according to US think-tank Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Predicting the effect of the TPPA, Klang lawmaker Charles Santiago pointed out that the price of medicine jumped by 20 per cent after the US signed a free trade agreement with Jordan.
“It’ll be RM136,000 for breast cancer medicine if the TPPA gets through,” said Santiago at the same press conference.
“For the average Malaysian, medication is not possible,” he added. “If you’re poor, you’ll die.”
Santiago noted that the TPPA’s Investor-to-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system would affect Malaysia’s sovereignty as foreign investors will be allowed to sue the government if public policies are not made in their interest.
“Australia was sued by Phillip Morris through its FTA (free trade agreement) with Hong Kong,” said the opposition lawmaker, referring to the tobacco giant.
Dr Mahathir also saw the same weakness with the agreement, and added his doubts about Malaysia’s ability to fend off such lawsuits.
“If we breach the agreement, their corporations can sue the government for billions. I have my doubts about our ability to convince the international arbitrators or courts,” he wrote.
“We cannot even convince the World Court over Pulau Batu Puteh.”
Pulau Batu Puteh, or Pedra Branca as it is now known, was a disputed island claimed by Malaysia and Singapore. It was ruled to be Singaporean territory by the International Court of Justice in 2008 after a protracted legal battle.
“They will have the best lawyers, lots of them. We will exhaust all our funds to pay our less experienced lawyers. At the end we will lose and pay indemnities and fees running into billions. And we will continue to pay until we comply. And when we comply we will lose more money,” Dr Mahathir predicted.
The TPPA is a free trade agreement that has been negotiated by the US, Malaysia and nine other nations as part of the larger Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership since 2010.
Critics allege that the agreement has since been co-opted by powerful corporations to allow them to trample over existing consumer, worker and environmental rights in signatory countries.
Although it is not definitively known how much — if any — of the allegations are true, the secretive nature of the negotiations continues to provide a fertile breeding ground for such speculation.
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