Nurul Izzah: TPPA clock ticking, stop delaying cost-benefit report for Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 — Putrajaya should stop delaying a crucial analysis to determine the costs and benefits for Malaysia if it inks a controversial trade deal with the US, PKR MP Nurul Izzah Anwar said today.

Nurul Izzah underlined the urgency of the cost-benefit analysis (CBA) by pointing to the US’s plans to fast-track the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) .

“As such, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry must not delay the CBA any longer. I strongly urge the minister to stop giving any excuses and release the full report to be scrutinised by the public,” the Lembah Pantai MP said in a statement today.

Yesterday, the International Trade and Industry Ministry wrote in a parliamentary reply to Nurul Izzah that two cost-benefit analyses for the TPPA have been commissioned and are now being carried out by the Institute of Strategic and International Studies and PriceWaterhouse Coopers.

The minister also said the CBA is expected to be completed this July and would be tabled together with the finalised negotiation texts in the coming Parliament session.

But Nurul Izzah said Putrajaya’s CBA could be too late and become redundant, claiming that the US Congress’ reported plans to pass laws to fast-track the TPP could mean that the 12-nation deal may be passed “within a fortnight”.

“Looking at the fast-track legislations that might be passed in the United States, it is baffling that the Ministry has no sense of urgency to complete or reveal the CBA,” the PKR vice-president said.

Noting that the parliamentary reply yesterday also contained key justifications for the contentious TPP, Nurul Izzah voiced suspicion that the CBA was being deliberately delayed.

“Such responses merit the view that there is a deliberate attempt to delay the CBA to the point that it becomes obsolete, coming hot on the heels of a finalised TPP,” she said

She urged for proactive action to protect the interests of Malaysia and its citizens in the signing of any deals, as well as an “accountable and transparent” process.

“A secret 29 chapters-filled agreement such as the TPPA ; or a much belated CBA hardly meets such requirements,” she said.

The TPPA is a free trade agreement that has been negotiated by the US, Malaysia and ten other nations as part of the larger Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership since 2010.