KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 26 ― Malaysia will be able to compete with Singapore if Putrajaya signs on to the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed told the Dewan Rakyat in a special sitting today.

He said Singapore’s economy was five times that of Malaysia’s, and added that the republic’s success was due to its “openness” to foreign investments.

“Fifty years ago, Singapore just as poor as Malaysia but today their economy is five times bigger. Why? Because of their open trade policy.

“They don’t have a single sen from petroleum but they are developed. They don’t have profits from palm oil but we have to admit that Singapore is more developed because of their open policy,” Mustapa said during the debate on TPP.

He acknowledged the agreement was unpopular, but emphasised that Putrajaya must sign the TPP now to include Malaysia in the “international trade system” and to become “part of the global value chain”.

Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail later urged the Barisan Nasional (BN) chief whip to allow its MPs to vote according to their conscience and not according to the party’s views.

“I invite the BN chief whip to allow the BN MPs to vote according to their conscience and let the vote be done in secret.

“If the TPPA negotiations can be done in secret then this can also be done in secret, can’t it?” she said.

Mustapa later said during a press conference in the Dewan Rakyat lobby that the bipartisan caucus tasked with discussing the TPP agreement initially had six BN MPs who were against the idea of Malaysia’s signing the deal but their minds were later changed.

“Initially in the caucus, even the BN MPs didn’t want to support it. There was a time when the opposition was angry enough to leave the caucus.

“There were even six BN Mps who didn’t support TPPA,” he said, adding that merely having a caucus with both government and opposition MPs has created a “new culture” in Putrajaya.

The minister also addressed Dr Wan Azizah’s suggestion and said that the decision regarding the secrecy of the vote is at the discretion of the Dewan Rakyat speaker.

“There is no interpretation in Malaysia about a secret vote. It’s up to the speaker, he will decide, not us,” he said.

Twelve countries, namely Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US, Vietnam and Malaysia, concluded the TPP negotiations in Atlanta on October 5 last year.

The TPP is a free trade agreement that has been negotiated by the US, Malaysia and 10 other nations as part of the larger Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership since 2010.