KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 — Putrajaya should not leave its participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) in the hands of US lawmakers, a DAP MP said today.

Amid concerns that Malaysia’s people-trafficking record may be used by US lawmakers to seek its exclusion from the free-trade deal, Klang MP Charles Santiago said Putrajaya should take the steps necessary either to remain in the agreement or exit the negotiations.

“Malaysia should decide by itself if it wants to be a part of the deal or not. Malaysia must look to resolve their labour laws if they want to be a part of the TPPA,” he told Malay Mail Online today.

But the critic of the deal noted that the current migrant and refugee crisis hitting the nation was unlikely to make it possible for Malaysia to improve its standing on human smuggling in time to make an impact in US politics.

He said it will also be difficult for the Malaysia to secure the dispensation from the US to allow it to escape the provision barring the country from dealing with nations engaged in slavery, which made it into a crucial bill that would give the White House the authority to “fast track” the approval of the long-delayed TPPA.

“The Americans have raised this provision as a crucial part of their stand, I don’t think even the US president Barack Obama has the power to veto this decision. He might be able to veto one or two of the other senate decisions but not this, as many of them feel strongly about this issue,” he said.

US news website Huffington Post reported Friday that while the White House is on the verge of securing the fast-track approval it needs to push ahead with the long-delayed free-trade deal, a US senator has succeeded in inserting a provision that would bar his country from entering agreements with countries officially viewed as engaging in slavery, which includes Malaysia.

Fast-track authority means that the US congress can either approve or reject trade deals, but cannot amend them.

Last year, Malaysia was relegated from Tier 2 to Tier 3 in the US State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, the lowest ranking, joining Thailand, The Gambia and Venezuela.

Tier 3 countries are open to sanction by the US government. A US law also includes a watch list, in which countries on Tier 2 for two years are downgraded to Tier 3 unless they receive presidential waivers, available for two additional years.

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.